RUDIMENTS 



OP 



NATIONAL KNOWLEPaE, 



PRESENTED TO THE; 



YI^UTH OF THE UIVITED STATES^, 



AND TO 



EJ^yfUMRMJ%^ rOHEI€kjrER^. 



BV A CITIZEN OF PENNSYLVANtA. 



PUBLISHED BY E. L. CAREY & A. HART, 

And for sale by the principal Booksellers. 
J, Richards, Printer. 

1833, 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by 
J. Churchman, in the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



The Author, retaining very little recollection of the formal rules of 
grammar, partially studied in his youth, does not presume to claim 
exemption from occasional error in the construction of his language; 
which is merely the result of habit combined with the exercise of an 
imperfect judgment. If the eye of criticism should detect faults, both 
in grammatical construction and punctuation, he will not be disap, 
pointed. He has himself observed imperfections in both these respects 
too late for correction in the present edition, — which, however he must 
do himself the justice to attribute, in some part^ to the fatigues attend, 
ant on a continual course of indisposition during the progress of prints 
ing. Not being vainly desirous of appearing personally before the pub, 
lie, he has caused entry in the office to be made in the name of a youth- 
ful friend; on whom, though legally constituted a representative of the 
Author, with relation to the property of the work, no responsibility will 
rest on account ot its imperfections. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction ----- page 13 



BOOK L 

Chapter I. North America (Discovery) - - 21 

II. Aboriginal Inhabitants - - - 32 

Indian Oratory - - - - 36 

Do Worship - - - - 37 

Do Morality and love of Truth - - 38 

Do Anecdotes - - - 40, 42, 44 

III. Settlement of the Colonies - - - 51 

•- ion 1. Massachusetts - - - - - 52 

2. Maine . . . - . 56 

3. New Hampshire - ♦ - - 57 

4. Vermont - - ^ - - 59 

5. Rhode Island . - - - - 60 

6. Connecticut , . - . 52 

7. New York - - - - - 64 

8. New Jersey - - - . - 67 

9. Pennsylvania - - ^ - - 69 

10. Delaware - - , , . 71 

11. Maryland • ^ . - - 72 

12. Virginia - - , - . 74 

13. Kentucky » - - - - 81 

14. North Carolina - ^ - - 83 

15. Tennessee - ^ ^ - - 85 

16. South Carolina . . , ^ 86 

17. Georgia - - - - - - 88 

18. Alabama and Mississippi - - = 90 

19. States and Territories N. W. of Ohio river - 91 

20. Louisiana, Missouri, &c. - - - 93 

21. Florida - . - - - - 97 

I 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK II. 

Introductory , . - , - 

Chapter I. United States - - - - 

Federal Convention - , - 

Form of Government , , - 

Comparative Reflections 
II. Waters of the United States 
Part 1st. Seas and Lakes - , , - 

2nd. Rivers and Bays . - - - 

Section 1. St. Lawrence . . -, . 

2. Mississippi and branches 

3. Susquehanna and Chesapeak 

4. Delaware . . • - 

5. Hudson, or North river - - - 

6. Columbia river - - - . 
Observations and Reflections 

Chapter III. Mountains and Face of the Country ^ 

IV. Climates and Seasons , <. .. 

T. Larg-e native Animals - 

Indian method of taking" tlie Buffalo 
Encounter of Captain Lewis with a Bear 
Anecdote of two Eagles 
VI. Native Vegetable Productions 
VII. Agricultural Products 
VIII. Mineral and Geological Substances 
IX. Manufactures in general 

Moral Reflections , , - 

X. Salt Mines and Manufactories 
XL Sugar Manufactories . , - 

XII. Manufactures of Potash 
XUI. Corporations - » " ° 

XIV. Insurances , , - - 

XV. Banks , . - - - 

XVI. The Mint - , , - 

XVII. Post Offices . - - - 

XVm. Patent Office . , ' - 

XIX. Fisheries --•»-» 
Anecdotes - • • 188, 

Mode of attacking a Whale 
XX. Fur Trade - - . - 

XXI. Commerce . . - - 



page 99 

. 100 

103 

- 104 
109 

- 113 
ibid 

' 115 
ibid 

- 116 
118 

- 119 
ibid 

- 120 
ibid 

- 125 
130 

, 131 
132 
134 

, 136 
137 

- 140 
143 

- 149 

i5r 

. 158 
161 

- 163 
164 

- 169 
172 

- 178 
181 

- 183 
185 
190 
191 
195 
198 



189, 



CONTENTS. 



Vll 



Chapter XXII. Commercial Emporiums - page 202 

Washington City . - - - 204 

Boston ----- 205 

New York 206 

Philadelphia . - - - 208 

Pittsburgh - - - - - 209 

Baltimore - - - - 210 

New Orleans - . - . 212 

XXIII. Steam Navigation - - - 213 

XXIV. Canals 217 

XXV. Rail Roads - - . - 222 

XXVI. Waterfalls, Medicinal Springs and Curiosities 226 

XXVII. Lines of Measurement - - - 234 

XXVIII. Education - - - - 237 

XXIX. The Eagle Map - - - - 244 

XXX. Agriculture, &c. . - . 246 





BOOK III. 




Introductory Remarks . - - 


. 253 


Chapter I. 


Waters of the Several States 


257 


II. 


Comparative Views of the States 


- 272 


Section 1. 


Maine 


ibid 


2. 


New Hampshire 


. 273 


3. 


Vermont - . . - 


274 


4. 


Massachusetts - - - 


- 275 


5. 


Rhode Island 


277 


6. 


Connecticut . - « 


- ibid 


7. 


New York - - . . 


278 


8. 


New Jersey 


. 282 




Anecdote of a drunken Bear 


283 


9. 


Pennsylvania 


. 285 


10. 


Delaware 


288 


u. 


Maryland 


- 290 


12. 


District of Columbia 


292 


13. 


Virginia 


- ibid 


14. 


North Carolina 


294 


15, 


South Carolina • 


- 297 


16. 


Georgia , ^ , . 


298 


17. 


Alabama and Mississippi 


- 300 


18. 


Louisiana . p » . 


301 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Section 19. Tennessee . . . , page 302 

20. Kentucky - - ... 303 

21. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois - - - 304 

22. Missouri - - ♦ - - 307 

23. Michigan Territory - - - - 309 

24. Arkansas Territory - , , . ibid 

25. Florida - - - - - - 310 

Chapter III. Cities and Chief Towns - - - 311 

IV. Tables of Counties, Seats of Judicature, &c. 345 

General Table - - - ^ 571 

V. Definitions of Legal Terms - . 372 



A few inconsiderable errors in print having escaped timely no^ 
tice, are here pointed out for correction by the reader. 

Page 47, line 9 — For "this," read ** their." 

61, 3— For "Aquetnee," read "Aquetnec." 

71, 24-^For ** Proprietor," read '* Proprietary." 
113, 6— For "mankind," read "manhood." 

115, 11 — For "Provinces," read "Province." 
155, 19 — Between " by" and "portions," insert "dif- 
ferent." 
263, 17— For ** Mataposny," read " Metapony." 



INTRODUCTION. 



More than fifty years have now elapsed since the 
question of the Independence of these United States, 
became settled. The actors engaged in the work of 
effecting the revolution, have nearly all passed away. 
The second generation from them are now in their 
different spheres of activity. Those who may be 
termed, according to the received calculations of the 
ages of men, the third generation, are in the morning 
of life — in the spring time of 3^outhful buoyancy and 
growing vigor; rising up as a new race of actors, to 
take the place of the present, in conducting the ex- 
tensive and complicated concerns of a great nation. 

The remembrance of transactions current at the 
birth of our national independence, is still preserved 
by the few remaining ancients; and their descendants 
have been taught to hail the period as one of all- 
important interest. 

History has been faithful in its office, in detailing 
the events of that deeply interesting period, in the 
order in which they occurred. A record of the na- 
tional transactions, during the last half century, has 
been preserved in the public archives; and some of 
those transactions have been occasionally unfolded to 
us, by the later historian and the politician, as circum- 
stances have called for their development. 

In party contests of public opinion, and in popular 
assemblies, many interesting sentiments and circum- 
stances have been from time to time thrown before 
the public view, clothed with enthusiastic ardor, in 
the form of popular declamation; and have been de- 
tailed with reiteration in periodical prints. 

From these, and similar public stores, the general 
chain of events hitherto interesting to the nation, may 



XiV INTRODUCTION. 

perhaps have been sufficiently unfolded to the past 
and current active generations; who may have pre- 
served in memory, each his own peculiar store of 
knowledge. 

As time passes on, and the generations of men suc- 
ceed each other, the ideas of things past, naturally 
become more and more faint, varied, and uncertain. 
Thus, the apprehension and comparative importance 
of things which have passed two generations ago, 
may wear a different aspect in the minds of the pre- 
sent very interesting race, in the morning of life, from 
that which they did in the minds of their forefathers. 

Though many of our citizens now in the vigor of 
activity, may entertain the opinion, that the sources 
of general information are sufficiently multiplied, yet 
a little reflection may satisfy us, that the records of 
knowledge are becoming m.ore and more diffuse; and 
that the youth now rising, must, in order to arrive at 
a correct general understanding of important national 
subjects, glean their information from a great diversi- 
ty of sources: and that, as time advances, this circum- 
stance will still become more obvious, and the labor 
to obtain a store of correct general knowledge still 
more expansive. 

The rising generation, will probably possess all the 
variety of taste and inclination which has heretofore 
marked the progress of the human mind. Their in- 
quiries will pursue different subjects, according to 
their diversity of taste. Amongst those subjects, the 
great variety of our national circumstances, and na- 
tional interests, v/ill occupy a prominent place, pro- 
vided their youthful attention may be properly di- 
rected, by those having the important charge of their 
education: when the gratification of those various in- 
clinations, may lead to their proper practical results, 
toward determining the pursuits, and forming the in- 
dividual character of the future citizen. 

Indulging in reflections such as the foregoing, it has 
appeared to the author of this little volume, that an im- 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

portant link in the chain of educational knowledge, 
adapted to the wants of the rising youth in our coun- 
try, at the present day, remained unsupplied by the 
multiplied efforts of modern authors to provide for 
all the public demands. 

The deficiency unprovided for, has appeared to him 
to be, a condensed view, in regular and easy connex- 
ion, and separated from extraneous matter, of the ge- 
neral rudiments of the history of the discovery of our 
country — the character and manners of the natives 
preceding us — the settlement of our early colonial es- 
tablishments — their advancement to the period of the 
Declaration of Independence — the establishment of 
our great Federal Compact — the form of our national 
Constitution — a summary view of our great national 
interests — and a comparative geographical and statis- 
tical sketch of the present aspect of the different mem- 
bers of our political Union. 

It has appeared to the author, that by presenting to 
the youth a connected stock of general ideas, those 
who may afterward have leisure or inclination to pur- 
sue the study of the whole, or any part of our na- 
tional history, or general national interests, may, 
from such a v/ork, receive important aid in the pur- 
suit of their different objects of study or inquiry, by 
haA'ing acquired thereby, a more enlarged, and at the 
same time a more connected and concentrated previous 
understanding. And that the very extensive and in- 
teresting portion of our great national family, the 
children of those efficieni citizens who are engaged in 
the laborious, and highly important occupations of the 
practical farmer, the manufacturer, the mechanic, and 
other branches of useful industry, and whose daily 
avocations, or circumstances in life, may limit their 
opportunities for study, or a more general course of 
reading, may, by the same means, enlarge their stock 
of information, and increase their qualification, to 
reason, reflect, and converse, on subjects of national 
interest, with a satisfaction which the mind of a free 
citizen of an enlightened community may derive from 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

a rational employment of his mental powers, though 
under disadvantageous circumstances. 

Under these considerations the present volume has 
been prepared. As the plan of the work is profess- 
edly rudimental, the unaspiring title of ^^ Rudiments 
of National Knowledge,'^ has been adopted. 

It has accorded with the plan of the author, to 
avoid a detail of any of the military operations of the 
revolution. They appeared to him, to belong espe- 
cially to the class of subjects proper to be embraced 
in a regular history; to be noticed as inclination 
might lead, after a condensed, connected sketch, of 
rudimental knowledge should be attained. 

He has also thought proper to avoid the language of 
glowing declamation, calculated to excite in youth an 
unprofitable excess of chivalrous sentiment; and to 
substitute occasional moral reflections, designed for 
the use of the future practical citizen, as well in the 
enjoyment of the leisure of affluence, as in the com- 
mon walks of industrious life; and calculated to lead 
the youth to a rational, interesting comparison, be- 
tween our peculiar enjoyments, as a nation standing 
independent and alone, in the undisturbed occupancy 
of avast, unbroken territory, and the evils of the en- 
tangled alliances and trammelled' institutions of fo- 
reign realms. 

To awaken in youth, a just sense of our national ad- 
vantages and blessings, has appeared to the author, 
likely to be productive of important moral eifects, 
tending to the encouragement of a course of conduct 
calculated to promote and ensure their protracted en- 
joyment. 

For the purpose of rendering the w^ork more enter- 
taining to young minds, the author has taken the li- 
berty, occasionally to introduce an interesting anec- 
dote, having direct relation to the subject discussed. 

Though many of the subjects treated upon, are no 
doubt familiarly known to the great mass of citizens, 
and may, therefore, at first view, seem to be scarcely 
deserving of a place in a work intended for juvenile 



INTRODUCTION. XVll 

instruction, yet we shall at once perceive, that know- 
ledge of every description, must, with the youthful 
mind, have a beginning; and that if a fair view of any 
subject is at once exhibited, the labor of future inqui- 
ry is saved; and the mind prevented from satisfying 
itself with accidental conceptions of things, which, 
though at present supposed to be correct, may, when 
afterward recurred to, for any practical purpose, be 
found to be in reality, imperfect and vague. 

As the author is disposed to offer his work to the 
favor and adoption of teachers, as an additional book 
of school exercises, he will cheerfully leave to their 
determination, whether the method of arrangement 
adopted in the geographical and statistical parts, be 
an improvement on former methods or otherwise; 
only requesting, as a stipulation, that his reasons of- 
fered at the commencement of those parts, may be 
candidly examined and considered, in connexion with 
his remarks in this introduction. 

In some of the systems of Introduction to Geogra- 
phy, for the use of schools, very little, if any, more 
attention appears to have been bestowed upon the de- 
scriptions of our own country than upon those of dis- 
tant parts of the world. This, with respect to the 
studies of the youth of a nation constituted as is 
ours, has appeared to the author to be an important 
error. 

The very brief descriptions of other countries, may, 
perhaps, be all that may ever be practically useful for 
our youth in general to know of them. But, to the 
rising future representatives of a great nation, under 
a government of a republican form, where a general 
knowledge of all important national circumstances 
is desirable, to qualify for future thought and action, 
under the independent character of citizens, enjoy- 
ing not only the name, but the essential realities, of 
moral and political freedom, a more expanded and 
comprehensive view of practical subjects relating to 
our own country, would appear proper to be familiar- 
2* 



XVlll INTRODUCTION. 

ly impressed upon the youthful notice and memory. 
If, however, those very brief systems are merely in- 
tended for scholars in their childhood, or very early 
minority, the author will cheerfully leave them to 
their own merits, without designing any censure. 
The present volume, it will be perceived, is intended 
for those of more expanded understanding, advancing 
onward, in the further stages approaching to man- 
hood. 

Other authors, while they pursue the same course 
of extreme brevity, in descriptions simply geographi- 
cal, seem to manifest a desire to exhibit, in one ge- 
neral system, a sketch of many branches of the know- 
ledge of the laborious investigators of philosophical 
science: combining together, with their brief geogra- 
phical descriptions of surface, the doctrines of geolo- 
gy, natural philosophy, &c. &c. in sketches equally 
brief and unimpressive. This plan has appeared, in 
the humble opinion of the author, as comprising an 
error equally inconvenient with the former, if the 
works are intended for the general study of the youth 
in our common schools. 

To assume the office of public criticism, however, 
is not intended; nor is any desire felt to discredit the 
labors of others. The author would only further 
simply observe, that, in this little volume, the plan 
adopted, has been to confine his intention principally 
to the exhibition of practical facts and circumstances; 
bearing in their nature, some relation to the common 
business of life, and possibly adapted to the purposes 
of useful reference, when future business and future 
settlement, may become to the student, subjects of 
important consideration: leaving the doctrines of ab- 
struse science, to be pursued by the inquiring student, 
as from leisure or inclination he may be inclined, in 
works especial!]/ devoted to them. 

In the present performance, truth and accuracy 
have been intended. But as the principal part of the 
work, is little more than a compend of the ideas stored 



INTRODUCTION. XIX 

up in the author's own mind, derived from reading, 
conversation, and personal observation, through an 
extended course of years, his knowledge may, per- 
haps, in many instances, be found to be too superfi- 
cial. When he has attempted corrections, by compa- 
rison with some of the popular treatises on geography, 
he has at once fallen upon so many and great inaccu- 
racies, with respect to parts where he had been him- 
self long personally acquainted, as to impair his con- 
fidence in their authority, with relation to other 
quarters of the Union. To some of these, the geogra- 
phical notices will of course be found to be contradic- 
tory. He will, nevertheless, freely acknowledge 
that he has made unreserved use of those historical 
and geographical authorities which have fallen in his 
way, so far as he has found them to answer his pur- 
pose. 

As the publication of the volume has been several 
years delayed in consequence of indisposition, the 
author has availed himself of the opportunities of cor- 
rection of some of its parts, by a comparison with 
some works very recently published. He now ven- 
tures the emission of a small edition; subject to such 
censures for incorrectness as it may yet be found to 
deserve. Should his plan, and its general execution, 
so far meet the public approbation as to encourage a 
second edition, he would invite his intelligent pa- 
trons, in any part of the Union, to communicate free- 
ly, their views of necessary correction, or further brief 
elucidation, directed to the publisher; when, if health 
be permitted for a careful review, their communica- 
tions shall be faithfully attended to. 

From an apprehension that some such rudimental 
work might be useful to many who come to settle 
among us from beyond the ocean, he has enlarged his 
title by a reference to '^inquiring foreigners.'' 

If the volume should be honored with a share of 
the approbation of a judicious community, it will af- 
ford the author the satisfaction naturally arising from 
the performance of an acknowledged service to the 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

rising generation; in whose well being and well doing 
he feels himself peculiaHy interested. If otherwise, 
he will console himself with the reflection of having 
intended well, though bound to submit with resigna- 
tion to the decision of public sentiment. 



EUDIMENTS 

OP 

NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE. 

BOOK I.— CHAPTER I. 

N O R TH A ME R ICA. 



Krr a period but a few centuries past, when our 
predecessors, counting ten or twelve generations 
back, were mingled with the mass of the inhabitants 
of Europe, many of the arts of civilized life, were, 
as compared with their advances towards perfection 
observed at the present time, in a very imperfect con- 
dition. The art of navigation, among other achieve- 
ments of human genius, was then in a state of com- 
parative infancy. ^ 

The navigators of that day, confined their efforts 
chiefly, to coasting along the shores of the eastern 
continents and islands; seldom venturing far from the 
sight of land. The idea of launching into a wide 
trackless ocean, in a direction contrary to all former 
voyages, was perhaps entertained by no one; or, if 
ever conceived, it seems to have been considered too 
bold a thought for human daring to realise. 

At length a man of superior mind appeared; who, 
influenced partly by reports accidentally gleaned 
from traditions then ancient, and partly by the force 
of his own native genius, guided by such lights as 
the progress of science and philosophical deduction 
afforded, conceived the bold design of navigating the 
Atlantic ocean into distant regions, westward from 
the world of his acquaintance, with a view to new 
discoveries. 

His purpose once formed, became the object of his 



22 NORTH AMERICA. 

sole pursuit. He therefore applied, with assiduity, 
to different governments and sovereigns of Europe; 
as well to obtain their patronage, as the adequate 
means of carrying his purpose into effect. 

The man thus distinguished for unparalleled bold- 
ness of design, was Christoval Colon; who, however, 
adopted a mode of spelling, which perhaps he thought 
more elegant or classical, which changed his name to 
Christopher Columbus. He was a native of Genoa; 
a republican city on the Gulf of Genoa, a part of the 
Mediterranean sea. 

He addressed himself successively to the rulers of 
his native city, and to the sovereigns of Portugal, 
Spain, and England; but his applications were for a 
period of some years unsuccessful; as being in the 
apprehension of the different courts, founded in vanity 
or idle conjecture, or attributable to ambition, reck- 
less eccentricity of character, or any other unsub- 
stantial motive which they chose to impute to him. 

He, however, persevered with undaunted resolution; 
and the more his applications were neglected or des- 
pised, the more intently he pursued his faA^ourite ob- 
ject; till after a long course of suppliant solicitation, 
he gained the confidence of Isabella, queen of part of 
the territory now composing the kingdom of Spain; 
who reigned conjointly with her husband, Ferdi- 
nand, king of the other portions of that realm. 

For the accommodation of Columbus, Isabella 
caused to be fitted out and manned, a small fleet, of 
three insignificant vessels; perhaps as much inferior 
to the noble ships now to be seen in our different sea- 
ports, as the early log cabins in the infant settle- 
ments in our western wildernesses, are, to the sub- 
stantial brick houses of a densely peopled district. 

With this pitiful fleet, with poor accommodations, 
and with crews difficult to be governed, and disposed 
to mutiny, he, in the year 1492, took leave of the 
shores of Europe; and launching into the wide ocean, 
pursued his course westward; braving every diffi- 
culty and discouragement which occurred, till he ar- 



NORTH AMERICA. 23 

rived amongst the islands bordering on this western 
continent. 

The geography of the world was then imperfectly 
known. Some of the European navigators had 
coasted round the southern cape of Africa, and ar- 
rived at some parts of Asiatic India. The whole 
eastern coast of Asia not having been visited by 
those navigators, Columbus, unaware of the extent 
of the dimensions of this our earth, though con- 
vinced of its globular form, apprehended that, by a" 
voyage in a western course from Spain, he should 
arrive at the coast of Asia by a shorter route than by 
passing round the southern cape of Africa. 

On his arriving at the islands near our continent, 
he supposed he had actually realised his intention of 
reaching India ; totally unaware of the existence of 
the great Pacific ocean which still lay beyond him. 
From this mistaken apprehension, those islands, as 
they were reached by sailing westward, came to re- 
ceive the name of the West Indies, and the Asiatic 
India, which was arrived at by an easterly voyage, 
was called the East Indies. 

From the circumstance of denominating those 
islands the *'West Indies," the native inhabitants, as 
well of the islands as of the American continents ge- 
nerally, received the name of Indians, 

After arriving at those islands, Columbus returned 
to Spain with some of the native inhabitants, as well 
as of the produce of those regions; when he was re- 
ceived with unbounded applause. After several re- 
petitions uf his voyage, he reached the continent of 
South America, in the year 1498. 

On his return from his first voyage, the fame of his 
wonderful success, rapidly spread amongst the nations 
who had rejected his previous applications as vision- 
ary — an enthusiastic spirit of adventure for the pur- 
pose of new discoveries became highly excited, and 
expeditions from various nations were fitted out. 

Amongst others, Henry the Vllth, the king of 
England at that time reigning, partaking of the gene- 



24 NORTH AMERICA. 

ral excitement, committed the charge of a voyage of 
discovery, to John and Sebastian Cabot, father and 
son, two of his subjects, of the city of Bristol. 

As Columbus and the previous adventurers, had 
mostly confined themselves to the latitudes of the 
West India islands, the Cabots struck out a new 
course; and sailing westerly from England, arrived 
upon the coast of the New World about the 57th de- 
gree of north latitude. From this point of first dis- 
covery, they traversed the coast southwestward, till 
they arrived at Florida, and from thence returned to 
England. But it does not appear, that their voyage 
was productive at that time, of any further result than 
a slight general survey or observation of the coast 
from the verge of the ocean. 

The three monarchs of England who followed 
Henry VII. next in succession, were too intently en- 
gaged, in political and religious revolutions and coun- 
ter-revolutions, to devote any attention to distant ob- 
jects unpossessed. And thus the discovery of this 
northern continent of the New World, remained unim- 
proved for nearly a century after the visit of the Ca- 
bots; though the coast might have been transiently 
visited by other navigators. 

A navigator, named Amerigo Vespucci, generally 
called Americus Vespucius, who visited the coast of 
the southern continent soon after its first discovery 
by Columbus, had the address, by means of the fame 
and consideration he acquired in Europe, by the pub- 
lication of a history of his voyage, to give and per- 
petuate, to the whole continent, north and south, a de- 
rivative of his own name. Hence North and South 
America. 

In the latter part of the sixteenth century, when 
the government of England had become settled, un- 
der the long reign of queen Elizabeth, who was the 
fourth monarch from Henry VII., the spirit of colo- 
nization in America revived, or became excited, un- 
der the energies of Sir Walter Raleigh; who zeal- 
ously promoted several enterprises, with a view of 



NORTH AMERICA. 25 

effecting a colonial settlement on the coast. At this 
time the whole seaboard, from Maine to Florida, re- 
ceived the name of Virginia; in compliment to the 
virginity of the queen, who reigned unmarried. 

The enterprises of Raleigh were directed to the 
part of the coast which now constitutes North Caro- 
lina. The scene of operation, however, was very- 
distant from Great Britain — the interior circum- 
stances of the country unknown — the genius of the 
native inhabitants little understood, and perhaps as 
little regarded. These circumstances, together with 
the want of experience for such an undertaking, the 
only safe instructor in great and hazardous enter- 
prises, were probably the reasons, w^hy these first at- 
tempts at colonization became entirely abortive — The 
people who were left on the coast to form settle- 
ments, for want of timely succours, either perished 
by disease, or lack of suitable food and accommoda- 
tions, in an unknown climate, or too little regarding 
the rights, or careless of the friendship of the natives, 
were by them destroyed. 

We will here offer a few observations, which the 
reader will consider as a digression from the chain of 
historical information intended to be conveyed in this 
chapter: but which will, perhaps, be found in some 
measure, to illustrate various circumstances which will 
be narrated in the course of our work. 

At the time of the discovery of South America by 
Columbiis, and this Northern Continent by the Ca- 
bots, the professors of the Christian religion, in Eu- 
ropean nations in general, were comprehended under 
that which is called the Roman Catholic church. 

The bishop or pope of Rome, professed himself to 
be the head of that church. And as this prerogative 
had been assumed by a long succession of bishops, 
the nations had become so much habituated to their 
assumption of supreme power, as generally to admit 
and acknowledge its validity. 

Under a presumptuous claim of divine right, as 
3 



NORTH AMERICA. 



head of what they were pleased to denominate the 
universal church, the popes of Rome assumed to own, 
and to have a right to bestow, on whomsoever they 
would, all realms and regions of the earth, which 
should be discovered in the occupancy of nations 
whom they were pleased to term savage or heathen, 
because unacquainted with the manners, and forms 
of worship, which had been prescribed by them.selves, 
or by councils under their influence. 

On this principle, they aSected to bestow on the 
princes and adventurers of Europe, a right to the ter- 
ritory and government of the vast newly discovered 
regions of America. And under this preposterous 
idea of grant from the pope, by divine right, the Spa- 
nish government, assumed the right of property, to 
the West India islands and the Southern Continent. 

And though those regions were found to be inha- 
bited by an immense population of friendly and in- 
offensive people, as this people were not furnished 
with the modern European means of warfare, to repel 
unjust invasion, the subjects of the Spanish govern- 
ment exercised towards them a most rigorous, cruel, 
wicked, and destructive course of conduct; by which 
millions of unoffending inhabitants, were, in a few 
years, exterminated from the face of the earth, in or- 
der to obtain the abundant stores of wealth, in gold 
and silver, which they were found to possess. And 
all this, under a mighty display of hypocritical zeal, 
for the honour and interests of the pretended holy 
mother church, by the destruction of the heathen. 
This served as a cloak, to cover their insatiable lust 
of wealth, which supplanted every principle of hu- 
man kindness. 

Another branch of assumed right, may perhaps be 
considered as standing in connexion with, or, owing 
its origin, either directly or indirectly to, the same 
root A doctrine became so generally established by 
the governments of Europe, as to be deemed a law of 
nations, that the government whose subjects first 
discovered a territory before unknown to the civilized 



NORTH AMERICA. 2i 

world, and in the possession of a people supposed to 
be barbarian or savage, had, by such discovery, a 
right to such territory, to the exclusion of all other 
civilized governments. 

This claim of right, however futile and defective 
its origin or ground, is even continued amongst na- 
tions down to the present time. Though it must be 
inferred, that by the advances of sound moral princi- 
ple, the original ground of such claims must be so 
modified and mitigated, as to exclude the idea of a 
property in the possession of tribes and nations, in 
newlv discovered places, and to assume at present 
only the exclusive rights of trade with, and guardian- 
ship over those nations. 

On the ground of right, founded on the discovery 
of the Cabots, the claim of Great Britain, on the set- 
tlement of its American colonies, was supported. And 
this claim of right, was occasionally resorted to for the 
expulsion of the colonial governments under other 
powers, in different parts on the coast, as will be ob- 
served in the condensed historical sketches which 
will be found in this work. 

But, as the progress of the human mind is slow in 
abandoning the prejudices of education and tradition, 
and becoming inured to the exercise of sound rational 
principles, under the guidance of universal benevo- 
lence, in opposition to the conduct and doctrines of 
previous ages, so too many traits may be observed, in 
the character and conduct of some of the earlv colo- 
nists from Great Britain, showing that they were still, 
at a period of one hundred years after the first disco- 
very of the country, under the influence of false no- 
tions of divine right, founded on their own assumed 
superior religious knowledge and Christian piety; 
their blind self-love and self-complacency, inducing 
them to view the native inhabitants as heathens and 
savages, less worthy of the divine beneficence. And 
hence the just rights of the unoffending natives were 
in many instances disregarded. 

At the same time that it appears proper to give a 



28 NORTH AMERICA. 

correct account of the early circumstances of our com- 
mon country, it may be expedient to caution the 
youthful mind, against inferences of an unjust cha- 
racter. 

Though the spurious claims of the bishop of Rome, 
as head of the universal church, to bestow on whom- 
soever he would, a right to territories to which him- 
self had no more right than he had to the mountains 
in the moon, may be now justly held in contempt 
and abhorrence, we are to remember, that many of 
the nations of Europe, were at that day, surrounded 
with great mental darkness and superstition, much of 
which has, by the diffusion of religious light, and the 
progress of moral principle, now become dispelled. 

At the present time, therefore, the sincere profess- 
ors of allegiance to that church, in a religious point 
of view, in our country, are not to be involved in a 
responsibility for the absurd notiT)ns which led to the 
destruction of whole nations of the south. On the 
contrary, many of them are among the class of our 
most amiable citizens in civil society; standing as it 
were in the fore ranks, in support of our excellent 
civil institutions, and in maintaining the doctrines of 
equal civil and religious rights. 

On the other hand, the blighting circumstances of 
our own early colonial history, which took place un- 
der the domination of other sectarian associations, are 
not to involve in their disgrace, the present sincere 
professors of the same general doctrines, whatever 
they may be. 

While the professors of different forms of religion, 
are bound to cherish such sentiments as accord with 
the dictates of conscience, and may be justified in 
even an earnest dissent from each other, in opinions, 
yet, as a nation united in civil and political institu- 
tions, we are bound together by mutual ties of social 
brotherhood, each under obligation to promote the 
general good according to our best ability; guarding 
at the same time, with a watchful eye, against all en- 
croachments on the civil power, which may possibly* 



NORTH AMERICA. 29 

from the misguided influence of self-love, be at any 
time attempted, by any one of the many religious sub- 
divisions of our great civil community. 

Thus, mutually fulfilling our civil and social du- 
ties, we may safely trust the cause of true religion to 
its own merits; confiding that it will eventually make 
its way in the minds of men, aided only by sound 
rational argument, and the force of its own intrinsic 
evidences. 

To resume our narrative: — 

After the failure of attempts at colonization, under 
the auspices of Raleigh, in the reign of Elizabeth, 
the subject seems to have been abandoned by the Bri- 
tish government, till the reign of her successor, king 
James I. 

In the year 1606, the coast of North America, was 
by him, ideally divided into two parts, extending 
from Maine to Georgia. To these parts he gave the 
names of South Virginia and North Virginia. For 
the two portions of territory, grants were issued by 
the king, in favour of two companies, composed of 
men of property and public note. The company of 
South Virginia was commonly called the London 
Company; of North Virginia, the Plymouth Com- 
pany. 

The spirit of adventure being thus revived, the 
first permanent settlement on the coast, was effected 
under the London Company, in the year 1607. The 
place of its location was called James Town, which 
was situated on the bank of the beautiful James Ri- 
ver, in Virginia — names given by the adventurers, 
to the town and river, in honour of their patron king. 

The next permanent settlement was made under 
authority of the North Virginia or Plymouth Com- 
pany; at a place which the adventurers named New 
Plymouth; now included in the state of Massachu- 
setts. These first adventurers on the northern coast, 
have since been denominated *' The Pilgrims," from 
the circumstances connected with their emigration. 
3* 



30 NORTH AMERICA. 

The grants of king James, to the two Virginia Com- 
panies, were soon found to be attended with inconve- 
niences detrimental to the public interest. They were 
therefore abrogated, and the distinctions of North 
and South Virginia were soon lost, or superseded by 
other names, which accompanied new grants, from 
different monarchs in succession, under a great va- 
riety of circumstances, as traced in our historical 
sketches, until thirteen different governments were 
established, extending from Maine to Georgia. 

Those thirteen governments, were held as pro- 
vinces, under the crown of Great Britain, until the 
increase of oppression by the parent state, produced a 
revolt; which led to measures of forcible resistance 
on the part of the colonies, and at length to a Decla- 
ration of Independence. That far famed, and ever 
memorable instrument, which was signed by the re- 
presentatives of the people in Congress assembled, 
and published to the world, on the 4th of July, 1776; 
by which the Thirteen Provinces were declared to be 
thenceforth "Free and Independent States." 

After a war of eight years continuance, the British 
government was compelled to acknowledge their in- 
dependence as a distinct nation; the northern and 
western boundaries of whose territory, was settled by 
treaty, as passing along the river St. Lawrence, 
through the great northern lakes, and westward to 
the head waters of the river Mississippi, and thence 
down that river to the Spanish province of Louisiana. 

The British colonies still remaining, under the 
names of Upper and Lower Canada, New Bruns- 
wick, and Nova Scotia, had been settled by emigrants 
from France, under that government, but were in pos- 
session of the British government by conquest, and 
did not participate in the revolt of the other thirteen. 

A part of the boundary between Maine and the 
British provinces, northeastward, being expressed in 
the articles of treaty, with some supposed ambiguity, 
has been for many years a subject of dispute, between 
the governments of the United States and Great Bri- 



NORTH AMERICA. 31 

tain. The subject has been latterly referred, in an 
amicable manner, to the friendly arbitration of the 
king of Holland; who gave his award in the year 
1S30. It appears, however, from evidences of dissa- 
tisfaction in the proposed terms of settlement, that 
the dispute still remains open. 

The large extent of country westward of the Mis- 
sissippi, including the present states of Louisiana and 
Missouri, with the Arkansaw Territory, and the 
great Missouri Territory, extending westward to the 
Pacific ocean, was afterwards purchased from the go- 
vernment of France, to whom the claim to it had 
been then lately transferred, by that of Spain. 

The purchase was made under the administration 
of Thomas Jefferson, our third president, in the year 
1803; and the consideration paid $15,000,000. 

The territory of Florida, has been since purchased 
of the Spanish government, for the consideration of 
jg5,000,000. 

It belongs to the department of more amplified his- 
tory, to delineate to the student and the foreigner, 
the difficulties, the hardships, and the dangers, en- 
countered by our forefathers, in effecting their first 
settlements in the wide- spread American wilderness — 
to transmit in more minute detail, a record of the va- 
rious circumstances and incidents severally attending 
them, in their different detached situations — and to 
trace the rapid progress of the new born nation, 
through all its vicissitudes, from a state comparable 
to feeble and tottering infancy, to that of a vigorous 
political manhood; proclaiming, and demonstrating, 
before the face of the nations of the world, its capa- 
city to resist oppression, and to assume and exercise 
the powers and the right^^ of self-government. 



32 NORTH AMERICA. 

CHAPTER 11. 

Previous to entering upon distinct notices of the 
colonial settlement, and early history, of the several 
states, it seems to be a natural course of inquiry, to 
examine by whom the country was held and inha- 
bited, before European enterprise transplanted into it 
so many portions of the numerous population of the 
old world. 

The inquiry, pursued to its extent, would afford a 
wide field for contemplation — furnish much room for 
the exercise of philosophical reflection — and unfold 
many interesting views of human nature, in a state 
uninfluenced by the refinements of education, which 
obtain in those regions of the earth which history has 
made familiar. 

To us, the subject is interesting, as they were our 
immediate predecessors in occupancy, and still hold 
with us, in a national capacity, an important rela- 
tion. They have, moreover, surrendered to us a 
beautiful country, affording vast room for the free 
extension of agricultural industry, and for the culti- 
vation of every art, and the improvement of every 
science, calculated to increase the comforts of human 
life. 

Though curious inquirers into their origin, suggest 
to us that they originally came from different parts 
of the old world, it seems to us of little consequence 
whether their arguments are well founded or other- 
wise. We know that they compose an important part 
of the great family of mankind; and being, equally 
with ourselves, the workmanship, and under the care, 
of the one Almighty Creator, they bear to us, in that 
point of view also, an interesting relation. More- 
over, though they have been separated for many 
ages, from other families of the earth, we know not 
at what period of human existence, they may have 
been the children of the same identical parentage 
with ourselves. 



NORTH AMERICA. 33 

Though they have been widely spread over this 
vast continent, and associating in an almost infinite 
number of different tribes and families, from what- 
ever sources, among the great human race, they may 
have sprung, they seem to partake throughout, of 
one general national character; and as that character 
appears to be little liable to changes, while they sus- 
tain their ancient modes of life, whatever they were, 
in a national point of view, two hundred years ago, 
they still, in general, continue to be. 

We shall therefore be justified, as we sketch their 
character and manners, in resorting to both early and 
latter circumstances for illustration. 



ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

of North America. 

When the European colonists first settled on the 
North American shores, the great wilderness was 
found in possession of numerous tribes of inhabitants, 
from whose forefathers the inheritance of the country 
had descended, through an unknown number of suc- 
cessive generations. 

Satisfied with the simplest accommodations, they 
dwelt in wigwams formed of slender and perishable 
materials. Agriculture was unknown to them, ex- 
cept the occasional cultivation, by their females, of 
small portions of ground, in corn,* and a few other 
simple vegetables. Inured to, and delighting in, the 
chase, they fed principally on the flesh, and clothed 
themselves and their families with the skins, of the 
native animals, which then ranged the wilderness in 
great numbers. 

Though their mode of living was thus simple, they 
were, nevertheless, a bold, resolute, and warlike pea- 

* Com, is a term applied in Europe, to wheat and other small grains, 
but as it is more common with us to confine the name, in its common 
use, to Indian Com, or maize, we so use it throughout this work. 



34 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

pie, when they supposed themselves to be aggrieved, 
by the conduct of neighboring tribes or nations. 

In their enmities and retaliations for wrongs en- 
dured, they were vindictive and cruel; revenge for 
an injury unatoned for, holding, in their imagina- 
tion, and under their national usages, the rank of a 
virtue. 

Their arts of warfare, consisted much in stratagem, 
ambuscade and decoy; generally aiming at the onset, 
to take advantage of their enemies by surprise; but 
when engaged, they would contend with great reso- 
lution, and apparent contempt of death. 

Yet, when accosted even by an enemy, with offers 
of peace and friendship, if they believed him to be 
sincere, they were easily reconciled. When, having 
smoked together alternately, from the pipe of peace, 
their amity remained unbroken, till some fresh pro- 
vocation, either real or imaginary, was offered to 
themselves or their allies. 

in their friendships firm and steadfast, they would 
in some cases, interpose their own persons, even be- 
fore a presented rifle, to ward off danger from a con- 
fiding individual, to whom they stood pledged for 
protection, by promise, implication, or the sacred- 
ness of the rights of hospitality. 

A singular custom prevails with them, and is often 
resorted to — the adoption of captives taken in battle 
with their enemies, as children and members of their 
own families, to supply the places of children and re- 
lations slain by those very enemies. 

Their simple national governments, are conducted 
by that which may be termed the force of moral power 
alone: and the representatives of that power, are those 
who have risen, by tacit agreement of the nation, or 
by special convention, to the rank of chiefs; in con- 
sequence of their wisdom in council, or their prowess 
in war; or sometimes by the influence of hereditary 
claim, united with demonstrations of bodily and men- 
tal vigor. But national councils are often held, to de- 
termine important questions; and it is a remarkable 



OF NORTH AMERICA. 35 

fact, that instances have been by no means solitary, 
where the counsels of grave, discreet, and venerable 
Women amongst them, have been regarded with equal 
reverence with those of distinguished chiefs; and such 
women, have seemed to be a necessary component part 
of their assemblies, in public debate upon the con- 
cerns of the nation. 

Having no alphabet, and consequently no written 
documents or memorials, a correct knowledge of the 
powers of their language, could only be obtained by 
long personal intercourse and conversation. Hence 
the opportunity of acquiring a complete acquaintance 
with their different dialects, and with the extent of 
the meaning of the words and sounds in use with 
them, occurred w^ith few; and those few perhaps sel- 
dom qualified with sufficient discernment to be judges 
in the case: and hence, their language was considered 
by their first European visiters, and by their success 
sors, for a long time, as comparatively harsh and 
barren. 

Of latter time, on a scientific examination and ana- 
lyzation of their words and phrases, it has been disco- 
vered, and clearly demonstrated, that their language, 
though simple in its structure, is rich, copious, and 
masterly: according with the most correct rules of 
grammatical construction, and fully adequate to the 
eloquent expression of all the ideas necessary to their 
circumstances, habits, and associations in life. 

In their national councils, they conduct themselves 
with great gravity and decorum.; attending, solemnly, 
and strictly, to the business before them, and using no 
more words than are necessary, forcibly to convey 
their sentiments. 

In those councils, and in conference with the re- 
presentatives of other powers, their speeches are often 
highly figurative; and are delivered with screat ener- 
gy and force of argument: and their observations are, 
occasionally, remarkably keen, shrewd, and satirical, 
when their opponents in argument manifest the weak- 
ness of their cause, by fallacious, unworthy, or un- 



36 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

reasonable propositions, or a vain affectation of supe- 
riority. 

Some of their public addresses, delivered on affect- 
ing occasions, would, for boldness of figure, and elo- 
quence of expression, even vie with the ancient ora- 
tory of Greece or Rome. Many instances might be 
cited, but we confine ourselves to the speech of Logan, 
a bold and skilful chief, as handed to us in Jefferson's 
Notes on Virginia. 

On occasion of a great national council, to consult 
on propositions of peace, after a bloody war with the 
white inhabitants, Logan, in consequence of a perpe- 
tual sense, rankling in his mind, of injuries of the 
most deeply afflicting nature, committed in wanton, 
savage, unprovoked cruelty, absented himself from 
the council; but fearing that his absence might have 
an improper effect upon other chiefs, he sent, by a 
friend, to be delivered in his name, the following 
speech. It is said, however, that no translation can 
give an adequate idea of the original; neither can the 
natural, graceful, and commanding gestures peculiar 
to Indian oratory be transferred to any other lan- 
guage. 

**I appeal to any white man to say, if he ever 
entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him no 
meat: if he ever came cold and naked, and he clothed 
him not.* During the course of the last long and 
bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an ad- 
vocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, 
that my countrymen, as they passed, said, ^ Logan is 
the friend of white men.' I had even thought to 
have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. 
Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and 
unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not 
even sparing my women and children. There runs 
not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living 
creature. This called on me for revenge. I have 

*The conformity of the practice of the nohle chief, with the doctrine 
of the Great Head of the Christian church is strikingly remarkable. 
Bee Mattliew xxv. 35. 



OF NORTH AMERICA. 37 

sought it: I have killed many: I have fully glutted 
my vengeance: for my country I rejoice in the beams 
of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is 
the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He would not 
turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to 
mourn for Logan? Not one!'' 

Though they have, by som.e writers, been repre- 
sented as void of settled sound religious principle, the 
conclusion appears to be unfounded and unjust. Nu- 
merous testimonials have been recorded by travellers 
and residents among them, who have had ample op- 
portunities of observing their manners, and discover- 
ing their sentiments, that they are habitually agreed 
in the sentiment of worship and adoration, to the one 
all-powerful Creator and Preserver of their being, 
whom they address in supplication, as the ^* Great 
Spirit," or ^^Master of Life." 

An accomplished modern traveller has given us 
short translations of some of their invocations, as over- 
heard by himself, when the tribe was engaged in their 
mournful religious celebration of the memory of de- 
ceased relatives. **My dear father exists no longer: 
have pity on me, oh Great Spirit! Thou seest I cry 
forever. Dry my tears, and give me comfort." 
'^Our enemies have slain my father and mother. 
They are lost to me and their family. I pray thee, 
Oh Master of Life! to preserve me, until I avenge 
their death, and then do with me as thou pleasest."* 

The rude images occasionally found among them, 
and to which they seem to pay a secondary reve- 
rence, must, therefore, be considered only as memo- 
rials addressing to their senses, in aid of their spiritual 
devotions; and equally reasonable, with some of the 
ceremonies and symbols, used by some professors of 
the Christian name. At the same time it must be ac- 
knowledged, that some of them are, for want of better 



* Lieutenant Pike's Travels up the Mississippi. 
4 



38 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

information, much given to superstition, and false no- 
tions of supernatural agencies. 

Though to those accustomed to the refinements of 
a more luxurious life, the comparative coarseness of 
features of some of the females, added to the effect of 
a homely habit of clothing, and a retiring bashfulness 
of manners, may present the idea that theirsensibilities 
of affection are dull, and but little refined; yet various 
instances are upon record, where they have manifested 
an intense feeling, equal to any of their sex, when cru- 
elly separated from their infant children; and other in- 
stances, where they have resolutely sought a voluntary 
death, in preference to enduring the torture of an en- 
tirely hopeless separation from the endeared objects 
of tlieir affection, or, to being compelled to accept in 
marriage, men whom they did not love, while their 
affections were fixed upon others. 

They educate their children with the greatest care 
and strictness, to the habit of speaking truth on all oc- 
casions: and if a man of their tribe, should ever be de- 
tected in a falsehood, he can rarely, or never, regain 
their confidence. Should he even be the bearer of news 
from their war parties, which would be highly inte- 
resting to them, he is treated with distrust or indiffe- 
rence. They will, perhaps in their broken English, 
observe to by-standers, who do not comprehend the 
the cause of their indifference, ''May be so true. 
May be so not. He once told a lie." 

When first visited by Europeans they were kind 
and hospitable. Treating the new settlers as friends; 
generously supplying them with food; and for very 
small considerations allowing them land to cultivate. 
But shrewd in observation, and quick in their percep- 
tion of improper conduct, which in many cases was 
soon manifested towards them, their, resentments and 
jealousy were easily kindled and brought into action. 
Hence, several of the earliest colonies exposed them- 
selves to dreadful sufferings and dismay, from the in- 
fliction of cruel tortures and loss of many lives. 



OF NORTH AMERICA. 39 

Results of a different kind, however, were the 
consequence of a different conduct toward them. 
These results were manifested in the settlement of 
Pennsylvania on a large scale, and in other exam- 
ples on a smaller. 

When William Penn established his colony, his 
utmost care was exerted, to conduct all his negotia- 
tions and intercourse with them on the principles of 
justice, benevolence, and unbroken faith. 

Appearing among them without weapons for at- 
tack, or defence, all hostile views on their part were 
obviated. Paying, according to terms agreed upon 
in formal treaties, a full satisfaction for the lands he 
purchased, he closed the avenues of discontent. Ma- 
nifesting in all his intercourse with them, a uniform 
course of openness, candour, and conciliating friend- 
ship, no jealousies had room to grow. 

At his first treaty with the assembled Sachems of 
the wilderness, under the great elm tree, at Shacka- 
maxon, (Kensington,) they appeared, on meeting, 
as if agitated by a variety of emotions. Perhaps they 
might be the blended result, of hesitancy, cautious po- 
licy, astonishment at his confidence in appearing un- 
armed, and wondering anxiety for the final issue. 

Observing, however, with a keen and scrutinizing 
eye, his simplicity of habit, dignified, unsuspecting 
deportment, benevolent countenance, and open manly 
presence, they became influenced by a spontaneous 
feeling of solemnity, awe and reverence. And what- 
ever of doubt, or hesitancy, they might have enter- 
tained, soon gave way to confidence, and profound 
respect. 

The solemnization of that treaty, is commemorated 
by the inhabitants of the state at the present day, as 
a circumstance of great interest. Exhibiting the sin- 
gular spectacle, of a man of the most refined and po- 
lished manners, conversant in the most magnificent 
courts of Europe, but devotedly sustaining the ex- 
alted principles of universal benevolence and peace, 
uniting in commingled sympathy with the high 



40 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

minded, indejDendent, and proudly decorated war- 
riors of the western world, in the profound and 
heartfelt acknowledgment of the governing provi- 
dence of the one Almighty creative and sustaining 
power, — the ^^ Great Spirit," — and pledging them- 
selves to each other, as his children, in the bonds of 
an everlasting friendship. 

Thenceforward their love and attachment to him 
and his friends remained inviolable; and their vene- 
ration for his name and luemory, descended by tra- 
dition through a course of successive generations; 
and is cherished by the broken and scattered rem- 
nants of the ancient tribes then inhabiting the terri- 
tory of Penns3"lvania, to the present day. 

At a treaty held at Sandusky, near the close of the 
last century, when hostile commotions had prevailed 
in the Northwest for a considerable time, several of 
the religious society in which William Penn held 
communion attended. 

Although the irritation and discontent which had 
caused hostilities on the part of the natives, remained 
in sufficient force to prevent the success of the treaty 
for peace at that time, yet a deportment peculiarly 
respectful towards *' the Children of Onas,'^ * pre- 
vailed among the natives assembled. 

One of the party holding the principles of Penn 
was a man of large person and commanding presence, 
A distinguished chief, of still larger stature and of an 
athletic frame, on a day during their social inter- 
course, approached him with his muscular arms ex- 
tended, and grasping him in close embrace, raised 
him repeatedl}^ from the ground, letting him down 
again with considerable force, in the familiar manner 
one might be supposed to handle a beloved child when 
in a sportive mood, though with much greater rough- 
ness; accosting him at the same time, in language he 
had learned from some depraved or dissolute person 

* Onas is the Indian name of a feather. Hence the settlers under 
Penn and their descendants were called by them the children of Onas, 



OF NORTH AMERICA. 41 

among the white population, as English words, 
adapted to a familiar, easy, good natured address, 
language too common among the habitually profane. 

Though his salutation was comprised in terms^ of 
vulgar coarseness too gross for our pages, yet it was, 
at each repetition, concluded with the emphatic ex- 
pression, '' You are my brother.'^ 

Here was an evidence of the affections of the 
heart, cultivated and cherished by parental care, 
through the traditions of an hundred years, secretly 
prevailing over the spirit of animosity and deadly ha- 
tred, which had influenced his general conduct during 
the war then depending. 

For some time after the first settlement of Penn- 
sylvania, the efforts of the colonists engaged in agri- 
culture, were chiefly confined to securing, by their 
industry, the articles of the first necessity. These, 
besides simple food and simple clothing, were simple 
log habitations, generally but one story high, and 
composed of one or two rooms on a ground floor. In 
these they lived, and began the opening and im- 
provement of their farms, in the different neighbour- 
hoods where they were located. 

The natives remained in their wigwams, wherever 
they happened to be situated, as long as they chose 
to continue among the white population; and dwell- 
ing in perfectharmony together, the colonists, whollj' 
void of fear, thought it not necessary, even to provide 
a fastening for their doors, except a simple latch to 
prevent the winds from blowing them open, or to 
guard against the nightly entrance of the wolf or the 
bear. Thus would the affectionate mother and her 
helpless infants, sleep in perfect security; even during 
the necessary intervals of absence of the kind hus^- 
band and careful father. 

Among the natives, an established law of hospi- 
tality, secured to the Indian an undisputed right, 
when hungry, to enter the wigwam of his friend, 
whether present or absent, and help himself to what- 
4* 



42 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

ever food he could find, for the supply of his present 
want. And for their conduct in so doing, by a rule 
of mutual tacit consent, no apology was due to each 
other. 

The natives, conducting their intercourse with the 
white inhabitants upon the same benevolent princi- 
ples, naturally considered the same law, applicable to 
their mutual relations with each other. 

But if, when hungry, an Indian entered the house 
of his white neighbour in the night in quest of food, 
which he could at any time do, by merely raising the 
door latch by a string, his first care was to inspect, 
with great delicacy, and without noise or disturbance, 
whether the husband were at home. 

If he found him with his family, he then felt 
himself at liberty to kindle the tire, cook such food 
as he couid find in the house, and having satisfied 
his present hunger, pass quietly away without utter- 
ing a word. But if, on cautious inspection, he dis- 
covered that the husband was absent, and the wife 
and children thus unprotected, such was his native 
sense of politeness and decorum, that he would im- 
mediately retire, gently close the door after him, 
and leave the family in the sweet enjoyment of un- 
disturbed rest, with his hunger unsatisfied. 

From the numerous examples transmitted to us by 
tradition, or preserved upon record, of the exalted 
benevolence of the Indian character, when left to its 
native or educational bias, unblighted by a sense of 
wrongs received, we will cite a convincing instance. 

A family of colonists, who had settled at a dis- 
tance from other white inhabitants, having exhausted 
their small stock of provisions, had no means of pro- 
curing a supply for their present necessities, but by 
travelling on foot, a distance of many miles, to a 
place of earlier settlement, where they supposed corn 
could be procured, and carrying home on their backs 
such small stock as they should be able to travel 
umder. 

Having thus, under the impulse of necessity, de- 



OF NORTH AMERICA. 43 

termined on the tedious journey, the parents con- 
cluded to send their little son, to abide with an In- 
dian family until their return. 

The family, discovering from the boy, the object of 
his parents contemplated journey, their friendly com- 
passion became to them the spring of immediate ac- 
tion, determining them instantly to divide their own 
small remaining stock with the sufferers. 

The best means which occurred to them on the 
spur of the occasion, by which to convey their spon- 
taneous bounty, was, to take the trousers of the boy, 
and after securely tying the legs at the bottom, fill 
them with corn. This done, they sent the child to 
his grateful parents, with his trousers swung over 
his shoulders, bearing as much provisions for their 
present sustenance as his slender powers could well 
support* 

Though such a picture may, to the youth of the 
present refined age, appear somewhat ludicrous, and 
perhaps excite a smile at the simplicity of Indian 
contrivance, yet the occurrence, when vievv^ed in 
connexion with its spring of action, and with due re- 
gard to the difierence of means and circumstances, 
may perhaps be perceived to comprise in it, an evi- 
dence as decidedly honourable to the dignified bene- 
volence of the human character, though exemplified 
through the untutored children of the wilderness, as 
would be the exertions of a polished community, in 
the present days of ease and plenteous profusion, who, 
acting in concert, should freight a noble ship, and 
send it to the Mediterranean sea, for the purpose of 
conveying supplies to the sufiering families of mo- 
dern Greece. 

When the pilgrims established themselves in New 
England, as they chose to pursue a course of conduct 
toward the natives, opposite to the plan of William 
Penn, they were sometimes reduced to such awfu! 

* Watson's Annals. 



44 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

circumstances of danger of invasion by them, that 
they even passed a law, at their general court, to 
oblige all their men, under a penalty, to go well 
armed, to their places of worship; and another law, 
when ammunition was scarce, to lay a fine for the 
act of shooting any thing of less importance than a 
wolf or an Indian! 

The original settlers of Pennsylvania, were a peo- 
ple who also were distinguished for their devotion to 
religious principle. The attendance of their yearly 
and other periodical meetings, sometimes required 
several days absence from their homes. On those oc- 
casions, as both sexes were equally interested in the 
attendance of their religious assemblies, they some- 
times left their young families without a full grown 
head, during their absence. Well attested instances 
are transmitted to us by tradition where the neigh- 
bouring natives, on discovering the absence of the 
heads of the family, and its cause, have visited the 
children several times in the day — tenderly inquired 
in what way they could be useful to them — and 
watched over their welfare with the kindest solici- 
tude, till the return of the parents. 

But these were the people, whom some of our mo- 
dern writers, seem to take a pleasure in stigmatizing, 
when they attempt to give their original character, 
with the opprobrious epithets of ^^ barbarous wander- 
ing savages;" and to advert to them in other degrad- 
ing terms, calculated to excite in the minds of young 
people, very unjust apprehensions. 

That many of them have since become greatly de- 
based, by their intercourse with the vicious part of 
the white population, has been very evident; and 
hence, that their moral habits, have been in many 
cases much changed. That they were, when first 
visited by Europeans, merely '^ wandering hordes," 
is, as a general character, sufficiently contradicted 
by the well known fact, that their national territo- 
ries were generally well defined amongst themselves; 



OP NORTH AMERICA. 45 

and by the jealous tenacity, with which they ad- 
hered to, and attempted to defend, their national 
rights, against unjust aggression. That they were 
'^savage," in the sense which seems intended to be 
implied, needs no farther contradiction than the re- 
cital of well attested circumstances, such as the fore- 
going. 

Such interesting facts as we are able to give, with 
relation to the settlement of Pennsylvania, are not 
solitary. The history of the settlement of Rhode 
Island, by the benevolent Roger Williams, furnishes 
evidence equally conclusive, of the effect of the ope- 
ration of a righteous principle, sustaining a constant 
course of just and pacific measures. The facts to be 
gathered from the account of the settlement of Mary- 
land, under the humane and enlightened Catholic 
Baron of Baltimore, afford testimony similarly inte- 
resting. 

But as they had no written language, by which to 
represent their grievances, and record their wrongs, 
the injuries they suffered in some of the colonies, in 
early time, were unnoticed, or lightly touched upon, 
by the interested and partial historian; and their ef- 
forts to avenge themselves, according to their accus- 
tomed terrible modes of warfare, blazoned to the 
world, as treacherous, wanton, acts of savage cruelty. 

The numerous if not unnumbered tribes and na- 
tions, which, in those early days of our intercourse 
with them, were spread over the whole region, from 
the northern lakes to the gulf of Mexico, and from 
the Atlantic shores to the Mississippi, have with few 
exceptions disappeared. 

Many populous tribes, inhabiting along the sea 
coast and tide waters, have dwindled away, before 
the white population, and become extinct. Many 
thousands, have first and last, been slain in battle, 
and have been otherwise destroyed, by the wanton 
violence of parties despising the restraints of law and 
the authority of government. Some numerous tribes, 
and the feeble remnants of others, have migrated to 



46 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

mingle with their red brethren inhabiting the distant 
regions of the west, far removed from our view. 

The larger and smaller remnants of tribes, retain- 
ing a national consideration, on the eastern side of 
the Mississippi, are, or have been till lately, located 
in the northwestern states and territory — in the south- 
western states lying near the Mississippi and the gulf 
of Mexico — and in Florida. The most of them, ap- 
pear to be rapidly giving up their inheritances, under 
contracts with our public agents, and removing. 

It appears to be the settled policy of our general 
government, and particularly of the present adminis- 
tration, to prortiote the removal of every representa- 
tive of the tribes, from the eastern side of the river 
Mississippi and the adjoining country northwestward, 
and to induce them to settle in a more collective ca- 
pacity, in a southern section of our national territory, 
beyond the western meridian of the state of Missouri. 
There they are promised a national protection, in a 
permanent establishment; either under their ancient 
modes of living, or in the cultivation of the arts of 
civilized life, as the different tribes may choose. 

It has been supposed, that if they can be brought 
to settle nearer to each other, those tribes which 
have long been in habits of mutual enmity and war, 
may be induced to relinquish their national hostili- 
ties; and in due time, by the aid of qualified agents, 
who may have gained their confidence, form a kind 
of Indian ^'United States," combined in a common 
interest, under some kind of general government, in- 
stituted and administered by themselves, for the ge- 
neral good of the whole native race. 

Some of the nations inhabiting far west of the 
Mississippi, appear, from the accounts of travellers, 
and from the knowledge recently gained of their cha- 
racter by the agents of our government, tb possess 
in a more prevalent degree than the tribes formerly 
resident near the Atlantic, the ferocious habits of cru- 
elty and treachery towards their own countrymen of 
different tribes. Other nations again, in that quarter. 



OP NORTH AMERICA. 47 

are represented as pacific in disposition, and easily 
influenced by judicious counsel. 

One cause of the early decline of the eastern tribes, 
after the establishment of our colonies, was the dis- 
appearance of the large native animals, on which 
they chiefly subsisted. These have fled, as the fell- 
ing of the forests, and the progress of cultivation ad- 
vanced, or have been destroyed by the white hunters. 

Another prominent cause of this desolation, has 
been the efiects of intemperance, vice, and disease, 
early introduced among them by their white neigh- 
bours; some of whom, as the white population spread 
and increased, were men who less regarded the mo- 
ral good of the Indian, than the advantages to be 
gained over him in trade. These, discovering the 
excessive fondness manifested by many of the na- 
tives, for intoxicating liquors, and unrestrained by 
the British or colonial governments, eagerly embraced 
the opportunity of furnishing them with such liquors; 
as well for the profits of their sale, as for availing 
themselves of the ruinous sacrifices of property, 
which the Indians would make, when under their 
influence. 

By such means as these, together with the influ- 
ence of the examples of immoral conduct, thus placed 
before them, by those unprincipled men, many of 
the natives, became degraded, from their former 
high minded independence, to a state of extreme po- 
verty, disease, and abject wretchedness. 

Thus, though their national customs, habits, and 
abstract notions, have as a general system remained 
the same, the moral standard of many of them be- 
came lowered, and the force of inherent principle, 
which so strongly marked the conduct of former ge- 
nerations, deprived of a part of its characteristic 
effect. 

Various attempts at what we call civilization, by 
endeavouring to induce them to restrain their habits 
of dependance upon the chase for support, and to 
adopt the arts of agriculture in more substantial habi- 



48 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

tations, have been at best but very partially success^ 
fill. In some cases they have been driven from place 
to place, to form new settlements; in consequence of 
the unreasonable jealousies of unprincipled parties, in 
time of national commotion. In others, when in 
particular districts, a progress has appeared, suffi- 
cient to justify a reasonable hope of success, the de- 
sign has become eventually defeated, by interested 
individuals, continually holding out inducements to 
the natives to sell out their reservations of land, 
and remove to distant parts, to adopt again their 
former habits of dependance on the beasts of the fo- 
rest for subsistence. Thus have unsettlement and 
disquiet been produced, and the progress of civiliza- 
tion much retarded. 

Completely to change the manners, habits, and 
principles of men, under whatever circumstances, 
generally requires the aid of powerful motives, ope- 
rating for a long course of time. So deeply the fond- 
ness for the manly habit of pursuing the wild game, 
appears to be implanted in their nature, that it has 
generally been found almost impossible to induce 
them to change the life of a hunter for the pursuits of 
agriculture, requiring bodily labour, unless they saw 
their dependance upon the former likely to entirely 
fail. 

Still other causes have, in time past, produced their 
injurious effects. The long line of frontier settle- 
ments of the country, while in a colonial state, was 
commonly peopled by a class of white inhabitants 
who delighted in participating in the toils and the 
pleasures of a hunter's life. Some of these, have, 
from their half-civilized habits and laxity of morals, 
been unqualified to exhibit to the natives an attractive 
picture of the blessings and comforts of civilized soci- 
ety. These also, have often been the instruments of dis- 
astrous and irritating collisions; and by some of them 
deep injuries have, in times long passed by, been in- 
flicted, which remain untold in the annals of history. 



OF NORTH AMERICA. 49 

Strong irritation, and the desire of revenge, on the 
part of the natives, have been the consequence. The 
Indian, resting on his native independence, and 
proudly exulting in his prowess in war, not staying 
to compare his nation^s strength with that of his op- 
ponents, has rushed to deadly combat, for the aveng- 
ing of his wrongs. After the shedding of much blood 
on both sides, when the strength of his nation has 
become broken and wasted, he has been compelled 
to submit to treaties, for the surrender of immense 
tracts of country, in which the terms of conciliation 
have been dictated to him, with the instrument of 
compact in one hand and the conqueror's sword in 
the other. Thus, have the principles of jealousy and 
distrust, been deeply implanted; and the lurking de- 
sire of revenge, at some future day, has retained a 
place in his mind, and tended to eclipse the blessings, 
and benefits of a settled agricultural life; and to asso- 
ciate in his imagination, ideas, unfavourable to the 
character of faithfulness, honesty and truth in a white 
man. 

While the Canadian country remained in the pos- 
session of France, previous to its conquest by the 
British in the year 1760, the subjects of France, 
having acquired great influence over the natives, ge- 
nerally succeeded in exciting more or fewer of the 
tribes in the British territory, who held connexion 
with their brethren in Canada, to associate with them 
in times of war between the two governments. They 
effected their purpose by promising them high re- 
wards, and by strengthening unfavourable recollec- 
tions of whatever wrongs they were understood to 
have suffered. 

These collisions, though productive of great dis- 
tress and suffering to the frontier British colonists, 
from the cruel modes of Indian warfare, generally 
led to the destruction of many Indian lives, and to 
the weakening of their national power. 

The same horrid mode of obtaining allies, was re- 
sorted to by the British government against the Uni- 
5 



50 ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 

ted States, in the time of the revohitionary struggle* 
though reprobated and condemned by her worthiest 
statesmen; and it ended in similar results. 

In the last war with Great Britain, the same mea- 
sures were again adopted, by the agents or subjects 
of that government; which contributed to thin still 
more the Indian ranks, and reduce their national 
strength. 

Still, however, the colonial residents in Canada, 
who are deeply interested in an extensive Indian fur 
trade, seem to retain, by means of presents, and 
other measures, calculated to operate upon uneducated 
ignorance, a certain share of influence over the na- 
tives near their boundary. The effects of this influ- 
ence have been sometimes manifested by appearances 
of enmity and jealousy towards our government: 
w^hich, added to a rankling sense of grievances in- 
flicted upon them, by some indiscreet citizens of the 
frontier, have occasionally produced renewed hostili- 
ties; which have brought upon the poor uneducated 
natives, grievous distress and a wide-spread destruc- 
tion. 

But, W' ith what painful interest, might the benevo- 
lent mind indulge the wish, that circumstances and 
transactions of a less insidious character, had never 
placed it within the powder of the faithful historian, 
to transmit to posterity, memorials of " w^rongs and 
outrage," at the disclosure of which humanity might 
weep, and the pride of fancied superior intelligence, 
blush and hide its face. 

Though as a great whole, they may have been 
viewed as *' a people terrible from their beginning," 
yet, have they in truth, been '*a nation scattered and 
peeled." Should it become possible, to see them 
more collected, and settled in social community, en- 
joying in unenvied happiness and peace, under the 
guidance of the principles of virtue, a plentiful por- 
tion of this beautiful inheritance of their fathers — our 
own conduct conforming in all things, to the eternal 
principles of justice and right — we might haply consi- 



OF NORTH AMERICA. 51 

der such a state of our country, as one prelude to that 
g;lorious day, long foreseen in prophetic vision, when 
'^nation should no more make war against nation" — 
when the hideous spectre of discord, violence and 
oppression, should hide his Gorgon head forever, in 
the caverns of darkness; and "righteousness should 
cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea" — when 
the tamed spirit of the rampant lion, forgetting his 
native fierceness, should compose himself to rest, in 
social covert with the lamb of innocence and univer- 
sal peace — when all the families of the earth should 
behold each other with the beamings of a brother's 
love. Then indeed, should our shadowing eagle, ex- 
change his aspect of fierceness and his attitude pre- 
pared for war, for the placid features and generous 
mien, of the watchful protector of innocence, the dis- 
tributor of equal justice, and the guardian of equal 
rights.* Then, should our national banners, display 
no other emblems than those of universal benevolence 
and fraternal concord. Glorious day! — Happy con- 
summation! — thrown by present appearances almost 
beyond the anticipations of hope. 



CHAPTER HI. 

Pursuant to our plan in this work, we next give 
a very condensed account of the colonial settlement 
of the several provinces, and the simple rudiments 
of their history, before the revolution, which se- 
cured their independence. By this course, we may 
be better prepared, to take a view of the United 
St^ates as a nation, and of our various national inter- 
ests and bonds of union, as we stand connected by 
our federal compact, under our general government. 

In doing this, it appears to be a better course, to 
notice the different colonies, as they appear in geo- 
graphical arrangement along the coast, than to pre- 

* See Chapter xxix. Book II. 



52 MASSACHUSETTS. 

sent them according to the successive dates of their 
settlement. Those states, however, which have been 
formed of parts of older ones, will severally follow 
their parent states, and the formation of new states 
and territories close the account. A notice of the 
settlement and organization of these, will necessarily 
refer to transactions under the authority of our gene- 
ral government. 



Section 1st. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

The coast of North America, as noticed in our first 
chapter, was in 1606, ideally divided by king James 
I. into two parts, extending from Georgia to Maine. 
To these parts had been given the names of South 
Virginia and North Virginia. For the two portions 
of territory, grants from the king had been issued, in 
favour of two companies. The South Virginia, or 
London Company — and the North Virginia, or Ply- 
mouth Company. 

Various attempts were made to found colonies in 
North Virginia, previous to 1620, which had uni- 
formly failed from different causes. But in that year, 
a party of colonists arrived from Holland, who were 
more successful. They had been subjects of Great 
Britain, who had fled to Holland some years before, 
to avoid the rigours of a severe persecution, on ac- 
count of their religious opinions. Though they were 
called Puritans, they professed the principles of the 
society afterwards called Independents, and in com- 
mon acceptation, are perhaps comprehended under 
the general term of Presbyterians or Calvinists. 

John Robinson — a man of great sincerity and re- 
spectability — was their pastor in Holland. And their 
removal to seek a home in America, where it was 
conceived they might enjoy their religious opinions 
in peace, was with his advicec 



MASSACHUSETTS. 53 

Being a man of sound mind, and enlightened views, 
he gave them at parting, an excellent valedictory ad- 
dress, fraught with instruction and advice, in what 
manner to conduct themselves; especially and press- 
ingly charging them, not to reject the discoveries of 
further religious light, which he conceived might be 
in future unfolded, beyond what they had then at- 
tained. 

So blinded however, were they, in that day of bi- 
gotry and superstition, that, supposing themselves to 
be the chosen people of the Almighty, and viewing 
the natives in the light of heathen, unworthy of the 
Divine regard, they immediately on landing, with- 
out provocation, or any attempt to conciliate these 
ancient owners of the soil, waged indiscriminate war 
against them; and thus subjected themselves to the 
constant danger of retaliation for wrongs committed. 

They fixed their residence at a place on the bay of 
Cape Cod, which they called New Plymouth. 

In 1627, another party of the same sect were 
prompted by similar motives, to seek a home in 
America. A small inefficient number of emigrants, 
appear to have arrived in that year, who fixed their 
residence at Naumkeak, and called it Salem. These, 
with the settlers at New Plymouth, had obtained 
their grants from the Plymouth Company. 

In the next year, a charter was obtained from the 
crown, in which the new grantees were called, 
*'The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay 
in New England." 

Massachusetts, was the Indian name of parts on the 
bay coast, and the name of New England, had been 
given to this part of the country by Charles I. , when 
prince of Wales, on a survey of the coast being pre- 
sented to him by John Smith, hereafter noticed in 
the History of Virginia. And by that general name, 
the six states east of New York, are still called, when 
they are spoken of for general purposes. 

In 1629, three hundred persons were sent over to 
the new colony; part of whom settled at Charles- 
5* 



54 MASSACHUSETTS. 

town: and 1630, fifteen hundred arrived, and founded 
Boston, and several other towns. 

After some years, the colony at New Plymouth, 
became incorporated with those afterward established, 
in one government. 

The colonists, in all those settlements, experienced 
for some time, great hardship and suffering, from a 
scarcity of provisions, and from the intense coldness 
of the winters in unfinished habitations: and from the 
effects of these calamities many died. Their accom- 
modations, however, soon became enlarged, and do- 
mestic comforts multiplied around them. 

But, the colonists, notwithstanding their sufferings 
in a strange land, maintaining their opinion of their 
own exalted virtue, and consequent favour in the di- 
vine sight, and disregardins: the counsels of Robin- 
son, their worthy predecessor, denied to all dissent- 
ers from them in religious opinions, the enjoyment 
of those equal rights and privileges, which themselves 
had so earnestly sought: and a rigorous and cruel 
course of persecution, marked their progress for 
many years after their establishment. 

Some of the sect of Anabaptists suffered severely ; 
their own townsmen partaking of the consequences 
of their arbitrary laws, equally with strangers com- 
ing among them. But their distinguished violence, 
seemed to be directed against the Society of Friends; 
some of whom visited the colony, and others were 
settled among them. Against these, new laws were 
repeatedly passed by the general court; authorising 
banishment, cropping of ears, and selling as slaves; 
till at length the penalty in cases of return after ba- 
nishment, was raised to that of death. 

Beside a course of the most cruel treatment to some 
of their own citizens, and even to delicate women 
who visited them, they proceeded to inflict the pu- 
nishment of death on three men and one woman; and 
had passed sentence on others, the execution of which 
was stayed by the royal mandate — that same power 



MASSACHUSETTS. 55 

which themselves had fled from to avoid the rigours 
of persecution. 

Although some of the historians of the day, have 
recorded a character of this suffering people, with re- 
spect to their conductj highly injurious to their me- 
mory, yet there is no evidence to support the de- 
scriptions thus given, but the distorted statements of 
their persecutors; who were interested in traducing 
them for their own justification; and whose testimo- 
nies are amply contradicted by other historians of at 
least equal credit. 

These instances of bigotry and fanaticism, mani- 
fested by the persecutors, are noted, because it is the 
proper office of correct history, to preserve a true 
statement of interesting past events; as well as for the 
purpose of a general warning, against the possibility 
of a recurrence of a like spirit, in any portion of the 
Union. To the enlightened citizens of the state of 
the present day, no part of the accountability, for the 
conduct of former generations can be attached. It is 
considered rather, that their merit is enhanced, by the 
circumstance that having the force of powerful exam- 
ple before them, in the persons of otherwise amiable 
and respectable predecessors, they have succeeded in 
shaking off the prejudices of tradition, soared above 
the errors of early national education, and under the 
guidance of an enlightened understanding, become 
exalted in moral excellence and liberality of views, 
to a standing equal to their brethren in any portion of 
the Union, more favoured by the power of primitive 
example. 

The native inhabitants on the sea coast of the co- 
lony, had become few by a pestilential disease, before 
the arrival of the colonists, and were afterward still 
more reduced, by the spread of the small pox, intro- 
duced by the whites. Under this circumstance, the 
remaining portions of the tribes were pacific, and it 
is said that the settlers in the neighbourhood of Bos- 
ton, had taken some care to purchase their rights. 
Yet as time advanced, and the settlements became 



56 MAINE. 

extended, encroachments upon them followed. And 
the interests of the colony, becoming blended with 
the neifi^hbouring establishments, where the natives 
were yet numerous, the people of Massachusetts be- 
came involved in a combined warfare, for the exter- 
mination, or banishment into distant regions, of the 
tribes in their vicinity. In this the combination 
eventually succeeded, after much bloodshed on both 
sides. 

They were afterwards, visited at different intervals, 
by the calamities of war with the Canadian govern- 
ment, which generally incited the Indians under 
their influence, to participate with them; and great 
terror and suffering to the colonists, were the conse- 
quence. 

Thus, for want of the prevalence of the principle 
of universal justice, governing all their conduct, the 
progress of the colony, in its early advances toward 
maturity, was marked with blood. 

Troubles of the above description at length in a 
great degree subsiding, the colony continued in a 
state of progressive prosperity, proportioned to the 
advances of its neighbours, through its several vicis- 
situdes of peace and war with the French government, 
till its disputes with the parent government of Great 
Britain, eventuated in the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. 



Section 2d. 

MAINE. 

An attempt was made as early as 1607, to effect a 
settlement in Maine, on Kennebec river; but the at- 
tempt was ineffectual. 

Fifteen years after the first settlement in Massa- 
chusetts, Ferdinand Gorges was invested with a grant 
of the territory; which was afterward confirmed by 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 57 

a charter from the king, and a governor and council 
appointed. But after the death of Gorges, the peo- 
ple who were settled in the colony, agreed upon a 
more liberal constitution; by which they were go- 
verned till 1652. In that year, they became included 
by mutual consent, in the government of Massachu- 
setts, when the district received the name of York- 
shire. 

Their connexion with Massachusetts continued, till 
the district was lately, by act of Congress, constituted 
an independent state. Its history from the union 
with Massachusetts till the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, is of course, involved in the history of that 
state. Its reception as a state in the Union, took 
place in 1820. 



Section 3d. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

The settlement of New Hampshire, was begun in 
1623, by a small colony sent from England, by John 
Mason, Ferdinand Gorges, and others, who had ob- 
tained from the Plymouth Company, grants of lands 
north of Massachusetts. 

The first house in the colony, was built near the 
mouth of Piscataqua river; and a part of the company 
passing, up the river, settled at Dover. The name of 
New Hampshire, was first given to the colony in 1629, 
from a county named Hampshire in England. The 
country between the Piscataqua and Merrimack ri- 
vers, being in that year granted to Mason alone. 

Portsmouth was founded in 1631, and Exeter in 
1638. The latter by John Wheelright; a clergyman 
of note, who had been banished from Massachusetts 



58 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

on a religious account; and who had purchased the 
land in that part from the natives, previous to the 
grant to Mason. By these two different grants of 
territory, a foundation was laid, for a long continued 
contest of claims. 

Exeter, Dover, and Portsmouth, each organizing 
a government of its own, remained distinct till 1641, 
when they were, by their own request, received as 
constituents of the government of Massachusetts. 

The claim of Mason was suspended until 1675, the 
settlers purchasing of Wheelright. In that year the 
claim of Mason was revived by his grandson; but was 
resisted by the settlers who had purchased of Wheel- 
right; on the plea that their right, being derived from 
the native owners, was the more just: and long dis- 
putes succeeded, to disturb the peace of the colony. 

In 1679, New Hampshire was constituted a sepa- 
rate province. 

New Hampshire was more the seat of Indian war- 
fare than the neighbouring colonies, and many lives 
were lost: the territory laying upon the frontier, to- 
ward the country to which the natives had been driven. 
These distresses continued at different intervals, from 
1675 to 1726. 

That the natives had been cruelly injured, by some 
of the directors of the public affairs, is admitted by 
historians, and assigned as a cause of depredations, 
which were often committed after their national man- 
ner of warfare, with subtlety and the cruelty of re- 
venge. The French government of Canada, by giv- 
ing them premiums, for their trophies of war, taken 
from the persons of those whom they slew, and a 
stated price for English prisoners, excited them to 
use great activity and address; and grievous suffer- 
ings to the frontier inhabitants were the consequence. 

It is however known, from the best historical au- 
thority, that in these wars, they scrupulously forbore 
to attack, or in any way disturb, those who appeared 
unarmed, and were known to be advocates of peace 
with them, and justice toward them. 



VERMONT. 59 

In the remainder of the eighteenth century, the co- 
lony progressed with its neighbours, in improve- 
ment, and in the acquisition of moral and physical 
power, till by the revolution it became an indepen- 
dent state. 

Section 4th. 

VERMONT. 

This state, is constituted of a tract of country, 
which, lying between New Hampshire and New 
York, had been considered by each government as 
belonging to itself, and each exercised the po\ver of 
granting lands within the district. 

The inhabitants, however, dissatisfied with the 
contending claims, resolved in 1777 to declare them- 
selves independent of either, and to assume to them- 
selves the powers of government. 

As they were faithful to the general cause of inde- 
pendence, and conducted during the struggle with 
great energy, the difficulty was not very great, in 
preparing the way for their admission into the Union 
as a separate state. The act of Congress passed for 
that purpose, on their application, bears date in 1791. 
The state is named from the Green Mountain, which 
divides it into two parts, nearly equal. In the time 
of the struggle for independence, the state not being 
organized, the inhabitants were familiarly styled 
*' The Green Mountain Boys. " The settlement of 
the state having been comparatively recent, requires 
no further present notice distinct from New Hamp- 
shire and New York. 



60 RHODE ISLAND. 

SECTION 5th. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

Rhode Island, owes its establishment as a colony, 
to the measures of intolerance and persecution, pur- 
sued by the government of Massachusetts. Roger 
Williams, being banished from that province in the 
year 1636, for maintaining the doctrine, that the civil 
authority, was bound to protect every religious deno- 
mination, in its civil rights, took his journey south- 
ward, accompanied by some of his friends of like sen- 
timents. 

Having arrived at Mooshausic, he purchased of the 
natives a tract of land, where he and his followers be- 
gan a settlement, and gave it the name of ''Provi- 
dence Plantations,'^ in grateful commemoration of 
the protection of the Divine power, to which he at- 
tributed the favour of a peaceful home, undisturbed 
by the fanatical spirit which had expelled him. 

Realizing his avowed principles, he established in 
his colony, entire liberty of conscience; and thus be- 
came the happy forerunner, in proclaiming and main- 
taining, equal rights to every religious denomination. 

His benevolence extending equally to the natives, 
he, by visiting among them, and learning their lan- 
guage, obtained their entire confidence. And go- 
verned by a spirit of love, and forgiveness to ene- 
mies, he was often instrumental, by his influence over 
these sons of the forest, in preventing the execution 
of their hostile designs, against the people who had 
driven himself into the wilderness. Thus practically 
fulfilling the divine precept, which enjoins the Chris- 
tian to render good for evil. 

In two years after his settlement, he was followed 
by William Coddington, a wealthy merchant of Bos- 
ton, who, with a numerous company of like senti- 
ments, were expelled from the colony of Massachu- 



RHODE ISLAND. 61 

setts on a religious account. These, by the advice of 
Williams, obtained by a purchase from the natives, 
their right to the island of Aquetnee, and called it 
Rhode Island, from the island of Rhodes, in the Me- 
diterranean sea; under which name the Providence 
Plantations are now included. 

By the attractions of a fertile soil, and the estab- 
lishment of religious liberty in the colony, it rapidly 
increased in population, and enjoyed prosperity and 
happiness. 

In 1663, a provincial charter was granted by the 
king, to *^ Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." 
From that time till the revolution, the province con- 
tinued a distinct and prosperous government; ex- 
cepting a temporary interruption by one of the gover- 
nors of Massachusetts, who assumed an arbitrary rule 
over it, as the king's representative, till he was im- 
prisoned for his mal-administration, by the people of 
his own government. 

The original charter was founded on such fair prin- 
ciples, that the people have never agreed upon a 
change. 

It is a subject worthy of commemoration, that by 
the justice and benevolence governing Roger Wil- 
liams, in his intercourse with the natives, the colony 
was almost entirely preserved from the calamities of 
Indian warfare. 

The character of the province, has, however, at a 
subsequent period, been greatly tarnished, by its 
merchants, too covetous of unha'llowed gain, enter- 
ing largely into the trade to Africa for slaves. In this 
horrid traffic, they became extensively the carriers 
for other provinces. A trade which has doubtlessly 
been long held in deserved abhorrence, by their phi- 
lanthropic successors. 
6 



63 CONNECTICUT. 

SECTION 6th. 

CONNECTICUT. 

The original settlement of this state, was effected 
in different ways, and in detached portions. Each 
small colony within its limits, having a distinct go- 
vernment, which in time became all consolidated 
into one. 

It appears that in 1G31, a grant of territory was ob- 
tained from the Plymouth Company in England, by 
an association of adventurers, headed by two noble- 
men, the title of one being "Say and Seal," and of 
the other ''Brook." And so little was then known 
of the geography of the country, that this grant ex- 
tended from the Atlantic coast to the South sea; on a 
supposition that the shore of that ocean was not dis- 
tant. The same circumstance is observable in the 
early grants in general. 

In 1633, a party from Plymouth, in Massachu- 
setts, erected a fortification at Windsor, on Connecti- 
cut river, where was founded a town in 1635; ano- 
ther at Weathersfield being also begun at the same 
time. Both of these towns were settled by inhabit- 
ants from Massachusetts, who it appears, were al- 
lured by the report of the fertile lands on the borders 
of the Connecticut river. 

In 1638, a settlement was formed at New Haven, 
by Davenport, Eaton, and others, who had arrived 
at Boston from England in the preceding year. In 
1639 Saybrook was founded, by George Fenwick, 
one of the patentees, from England; a fort having 
been erected there in 1635, by direction of the pa- 
tentees. The name he compounded from the titles of 
the two noblemen named in the grant. 

These small colonies, were each under a self-con- 
stituted jurisdiction, till a charter, comprehending 
the whole territory, was granted by king Charles II., 



CONNECTICUT. 63 

on terms more liberal than had been usual with the 
British monarchs; owing to a circumstance of address 
of the applicant, by which the mind of the king was 
wrought into complacency, inducing him to abate his 
usual reservations and restrictions. 

Under this charter the colonists continued prosper- 
ous and contented. Though some of their early laws, 
are strongly characterized, by a spirit of sectarian bi- 
gotry, at which the present enlightened age revolts. 

The Dutch government at New York, claiming the 
country to the border of Connecticut river, disputes 
often arose between the subjects of the two nations. 
These disputes, however, were ended by treaty, in 
1650. 

In war with the natives, this colony being on the 
sea coast, and its frontiers defended by other settle- 
ments, suffered less than some of the neighbouring 
ones. Though the people appear to have entered fully 
into the spirit, and active exertions of war, for the 
extermination of the neighbouring tribes, who in the 
cruelty of revenge for accumulated injuries, had com- 
mitted grievous depredations upon some of the white 
settlements. 

In 16S6, king James II. laid a plan to abolish the 
charters of all the colonies, and substitute arbitrary 
governments, to be administered by his own agents- 
To accomplish this design, his agent, at the head of 
an armed force, demanded of the assembly, when in 
session, a surrender of the instrument by which their 
rights were guaranteed. But, by an ingenious stra- 
tagem, conducted with address, by one of their ablest 
citizens, he was prevented from obtaining it. 

Thus secured in ample privileges, the colony con- 
tinued in a prosperous state for nearly a century; 
when the contest with Great Britain, resulted in an 
exchange of relations, from a dependant province of 
a distant monarch, to that of a member of a great re- 
publican confederacy. 



64 NEW YORK. 

SECTION 7th. 

NEW YORK. 

The North, or Hudson, river, and the adjoining 
shores, were visited in the year 1609, by Henry Hud- 
son, of England, but sailing as a captain employed by 
the Dutch East India Company. 

This transient visit, laid, according to the usages 
of European nations, the foundation of a claim to the 
country by the republic of Holland; in conformity 
with the absurd doctrine, that the first sight of a 
country, connected with some circumstances of tri- 
fling ceremony, by a subject of a nation called civil- 
ized, gave that nation a right to the territory, pro- 
vided it was only inhabited by people whom they 
chose to term savage. Or, in other words, provided 
the nation thus discovered, were so much less skilled 
in the arts and modes of modern warfare, as to render 
them easily reducible by the adepts in those arts. 

In this instance, however, the Dutch government 
seem to have overlooked, or disregarded, the previ- 
ous visit and discovery of the Cabots — the claim of 
the British government, being long afterward suc- 
cessfully enforced. 

In consequence of the discovery of Hudson, the 
republic of Holland, in the year 1613, granted to 
some of its merchants, the exclusive right of trading 
in the territory. And these merchants, depending 
on the sword for protection, erected a fort, 160 miles 
up the river, and called it *' Fort Orange." They also 
built a few houses for trade, on Manhattan island — 
now New York. 

In 1621, the republic granted to their West India 
Company, a large territory on both sides of the river, 
by boundaries inaccurately defined; but which the 
company interpreted as extending from the Connec- 
ticut river to the bay of Delaware. The country thus 



NEW YORK. 65 

granted, they called New Nederlands, and the settle- 
ment on Manhattan island, New Amsterdam. 

The country was held by the Dutch for fifty years 
after their first settlement; though with some inter- 
ruption from the British claims. 

In the course of this time, bloody wars with the 
natives occurred, and many lives were sacrificed on 
both sides. It is easy to conceive on which side ag- 
gression was first chargeable; as candid historians 
agree in testifying, that the native tribes, though 
cruel and vindictive in revenging injuries wantonly 
committed, and unjust infringements on their native 
rights, were never known, in the days of our early 
history, to be the first in breaking the stipulations of 
a fair and friendly treaty. 

In this interval also, the Dutch population had be- 
come numerous; and the town of New Amsterdam 
had been fortified, and had grown to a considerable 
size. 

In the year 1664, king Charles II. claiming his 
prior right to the whole coast, on the principle of 
prior discovery by the Cabots, granted the territory 
to his brother, James, duke of York and Albany; and 
though at peace with the republic, immediately sent a 
squadron and armed force, to conquer for him the 
possession. 

This military expedition succeeded; and the terri- 
tory remained in the possession of the British, from 
that time forward, excepting a temporary interrup- 
tion by a Dutch force in 1673. On the British con- 
quest. New Amsterdam received the name of New 
York, and Orange that of Albany, from the two titles 
of the duke. 

The colony was often afterward, subjected to com- 
motion and inquietude, for the space of more than 
eighty years. Some of the governors sent to preside 
over it, were, it seems, totally disqualified for the of- 
fice, either by incapacity, profligacy, covetousness, 
or tyrannical principles; and the people were either 
6* 



66 NEW YORK. 

contending against them for their just rights, or dis- 
contentedly suffering, under arbitrary impositions. 

Other governors, however, appear to have been 
men of amiable disposition and manners, and to have 
conducted with prudence; and the people, being con- 
ciliated, to have maintained friendly terms with 
them; the colony prospering under their adminis- 
tration. 

Amongst the greatest public evils in those early 
periods, may be considered their laws enacted at cer- 
tain times, cruelly and wantonly, infringing on the 
rights of conscience, with relation to religious persua- 
sion and principle. 

The colony, at different periods, during this inter- 
val, suffered in its northern parts, grievous devasta- 
tion and bloodshed, by the northern Indians, stimu- 
lated by the French government in Canada; and 
sometimes combined with hostile legions from that 
quarter. Such was the consequence of possessing a 
country by the power of the sword; without sufficient 
care to satisfy the just claims of the former rightful 
owners, and to secure and consolidate their friend- 
ship, by a watchful and liberal conduct, proportioned 
to the great advantages which they had surrendered. 

From 1756 to 1763, the British government and 
its colonies, were engaged in war with France and 
her Canadian government, and New York was often 
the seat of sanguinary warfare. The northern French 
authorities, as usual, inviting the natives under their 
influence, to join them, and stimulating them to prac- 
tise their wonted cruelties. 

Soon after the conclusion of this war, this, with 
the other provinces, was involved in disputes with 
the parent government of Great Britain, which conti- 
nued with little intermission, till, by the Declaration 
of Independence, it became an independent state. 



NEW JERSEY. 67 

SECTION 8th. 

NEW JERSEY. 

The first European settlement in this state, appears 
to have been made by a small colony from Denmark, 
who fixed their abode at Bergen, in the north-east 
part, about the year 1624. Settlements were soon 
after made further south, by emigrants from Holland. 
The descendants of these, remain to be citizens com- 
posing a large proportion of the population of those 
parts at the present day. 

These were soon succeeded by settlements on De- 
laware bay and river, by inhabitants from Sweden 
and Finland; who, however, chiefly fixed themselves 
on the west side of the Delaware, though their pur- 
chase from the natives appears to have included both 
shores. 

About the year. 1640, a settlement was began at 
Elsinborough, by emigrants from England. But the 
claim of the Dutch, who then held New York, ex- 
tending to the Delaware, they joined the Swedes in 
expelling the English settlers. Afterward, the terri- 
tory on the Delaware, was contested between the 
Dutch and Swedes, and several times changed mas- 
ters, previous to the conquest of the whole Dutch ter- 
ritory, by a British force, in favour of the duke of 
York, in the year 1664. 

The duke of York, in the same year, sold this part 
of his territory, to the lord Berkeley and sir George 
Cartaret; when it received the name of New Jersey, 
in compliment to the latter, who had been governor 
of the island of Jersey on the coast of England, under 
king Charles II. The territory being divided be- 
tween the two purchasers, their separate parts were 
called East and West Jersey. 

The two portions, afterward, several times changed 
owners, and were, for some time, severally held by 



68 NEW JERSEY. 

large companies, of whom William Penii and Robert 
Barclay, eminent in the Society of Friends, were 
conspicuous members. 

The circumstance of a multiplied proprietorship 
occasioning confusion in land titles, among the actual 
settlers, produced unpleasant and irritating conten- 
tions. These, with other difficulties, induced the 
proprietors in 1702, to agree in surrendering the go- 
vernment to the crown, under the reign of queen 
Anne; who united the two divisions under one go- 
vernment. 

The legislative assemblies were elected by the peo- 
ple, but the governors of New York presided over 
the province till 173S, when a separate governor was 
appointed. From that time the province continued 
in a prosperous state until the revolution. 

The public authorities from the earliest colonial 
settlement to the latest provincial date, having, so far 
as appears, conducted toward the native inhabitants 
with justice, benevolence, and friendship, the pro- 
vince was never much subjected to the scourge of In- 
dian warfare; the natives in general, peaceably trans- 
ferring their rights for satisfactory considerations, 
alid retiring to the interior country. 

A few who chose to remain near the graves of their 
fathers in the middle part of the state, were provided 
for by the care of benevolent individuals, who took 
proper measures to secure sufficient portions of land 
for their maintenance, as long as the tribes remained 
willing to occupy it. On their application to the le- 
gislature the land was then sold and the proceeds ap- 
propriated to the use of the remnants of the tribes. 

A circumstance of very late date is worthy of pub- 
lic record, as honourable to the benevolence of the 
state legislature. 

It was not uncommon in times long gone by, for 
the tribes, when they sold portions of their inherit- 
ance, to reserve the right of fishing and hunting upon 
them — a right which would be only valuable to them 
while they remained to occupy it, or the lands re- 



PENNSYLVANIA. 69 

mained unimproved, and cease to be of any worth 
when the extension of culture should displace the wild 
animals, or the party should remove to distant parts. 

It appears that small remnants of one or two tribes, 
who a long time ago sold their lands and removed to 
Green Bay in the northwest territory, are still in ex- 
istence, but have become poor and depressed. 

As lately as the winter of 1831-2, a distinguished 
Indian, deputed by this people, presented himself be- 
fore the legislature when in session; with a plea that 
when their forefathers sold their land, they had re- 
ceived their pay, but, that their right of hunting and 
fishing was never extinguished. Though it is to be 
presumed no one would dispute the privilege with 
them, if they chose to come and occupy it, and could 
find game to pursue, yet the assembly were too mag- 
nanimous to urge the plea against them; but compas- 
sionating their forlorn condition, courteously voted 
them the sum of 2000 dollars in ready money, as a 
compensation for their reserved privileges. With 
this sum the agent returned to his friends highly 
pleased and gratified. 



SECTION 9th. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania was first settled as a British colony 
under the patronage of William Penn, proprietor and 
governor, in the year 1682. He obtained the British 
territorial claim from king Charles II. ; in consider- 
ation of a large sum of money, owing by the king 
or government to his father; who had been in his ac- 
tive days an admiral of renown in the navy of Great 
Britain. After him, the king insisted upon naming 
the province, Pennsylvania, which literally signifies 
"The country of Penn. '^ 



70 PENNSYLVANIA. 

But this transfer of territorial title, by a prince of a 
distant land, did not in the view of William Penn, 
constitute a ri^ht to the country, without a fair and 
honourable purchase from the native inhabitants. 

Of these he made several purchases, including as 
much land as was necessary for the colony during his 
personal administration of the government; leaving it 
for his heirs and successors to follow his righteous 
example. 

The earliest emigrants were principally of the So- 
ciety of Friends; who were of his own religious com- 
munion; and by whom the offices and sub-adminis- 
tration, were chiefly held and conducted, during the 
early periods of the government: though his liberality 
of mind was so far above the influence of religious 
prejudice, that it does not appear that he ever rejected 
the services of men qualified for office, of any deno- 
mination; and his frame of government secured equal 
rights and privileges to all. 

The province remained in the enjoyment of un- 
broken peace with the natives, until a period more 
than seventy years after the first settlement; at which 
time the administration had passed chiefly into other 
channels: the descendants of the founder, having early 
relaxed, from the strictness of circumspection and ho- 
nour, observed by their venerable predecessor toward 
the natives, and deserted the religious communion of 
his friends. 

The laws and institutions of William Penn, being 
founded in wisdom, and with uncommon foresight, 
and his measures being mild, pacific, and condescend- 
ing, the province rapidly advanced to a consequence 
equal to the oldest colonies. 

The prosperity of the country, both as a British 
province and as an independent state, has been, from 
the earliest settlement to the present time, with little 
intermission, continually advancing in opulence and 
moral power. 

The humanity, philanthropy, and beneficent spirit 
of William Penn, feeling deeply for the wrongs and 



DELAWARE. 71 

oppressions, constantly committing, by many of the 
powers of European government in his day, inspired 
him with deep solicitude for the good of man, as a 
being constituted by his great and all-wise Creator as 
a free agent; whose conscience was sacred, and un- 
controllable by the unhallowed efforts of arbitrary 
power. 

Hence, he proclaimed his province, an asylum for 
the oppressed of all nations. And hence the present 
population, is a more mixed race, than is to be found 
in many other states in the Union; consisting of emi- 
grants and their descendants, from Great Britain, Ire- 
land, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and many 
other nations; who, in social compact have liarmo- 
nized together, in a united common interest. 

The territorial rights of the Penn family, remained 
on their original ground, and the executive govern- 
ment was administered by different branches of the 
family in succession, and by their deputies, until the 
revolution. Their right to the territory and govern- 
ment was afterward purchased by the state, for the 
sum of 130,000/. sterling — equal to 606,666 dollars, 
avoiding fractions. Beside confirming to the family, 
their rights in the proprietor manors, previously lo- 
cated; which equalled a tenth part of all the lands 
which had then been surveyed and appropriated. 



SECTION 10th. 

DELAWAEE. 

The first European settlement of Delaware wasi 
about 1627, by a colony from Sweden. They pur- 
chased from the natives an extensive tract of land 
bordering on the tide waters, from Cape Henlopen to 
the island of Tinicum, at the mouth of the Schuylkill; 
to which they gave the name of New Sweden. Their 
chief town they called Cassimer, which has since 



72 MARYLAND. 

been called by the Dutch Neiwer Amstel, but which 
the British eventually changed to New Castle. 

The Swedish colonists appear by historical records, 
to have gained the good will and friendship of the na- 
tives, by a just and honourable conduct toward them. 

Possession of the Swedish territor}^ was afterward 
obtained by the Dutch government, then existing at 
New York. And they in their turn, were expelled 
by the power of the British. 

The late Swedish colony on the Delaware, was 
connected with New York, when it fell into the pos- 
session of the duke of York, brother to king Charles 
11. by a grant from the king. And the right of the 
duke of York to the territory of Delaware, was trans- 
ferred by sale to William Penn, who had then ob- 
tained the grant of Pennsylvania. 

It was held under his government by the name of 
"The Territories," or, ''The Lower Counties,** 
though having its own legislative assembly. 

Finally, at the revolution, it assumed the rank of 
an independent state. 



SECTION 11th. 

MAEYLAND. 

The colony of Maryland was founded by Cecilius 
Calvert. 

Sir George Calvert, baron of Baltimore, in Ireland, 
a Roman Catholic by profession, feeling the oppres- 
sion of intolerance, under the reign of king James I., 
conceived the design of removing to America, for the 
enjoyment of liberty of conscience; and in pursuit of 
that design, sailed to Virginia. 

Finding the intolerant spirit prevalent there also, 
and observing that the Virginian colonists had made 
no settlement east of the Potomac, after exploring the 



MARYLAND. - ^ 73 

country, he returned to England, and obtained the 
assent of king Charles I., then on the throne, for a 
grant of territory; but died before his charter was 
completed. 

After his death, the charter was confirmed to Ceci- 
lius Calvert, his eldest son, and successor to his titles; 
and the territory named Maryland, in compliment to 
the queen, Henrietta Maria. 

The charter, framed by sir George, was upon libe- 
ral principles, highly honourable to his memory. It 
established religious liberty upon a broad ground; 
and his son, being of a like philanthropic disposition, 
strictly adhered to its provisions. 

Leonard Calvert, brother of the proprietor, was tJie 
first governor; who arrived at the head of a colony 
in the year 1634. 

His intercourse with the natives was friendly and 
conciliatory. He purchased of them a considerable 
village, called in their tongue Yoamaco, and gave it 
the name of St. Mary's. It remained to be the seat 
of government for sixty 5^ears. Its situation w^as near 
the southern point of the western peninsula, on a 
creek which he called St. George's. 

By his fair purchases of territory, and his just and 
prudent conduct, he satisfied the native proprietors, 
and confirmed their friendship. 

The charter being liberal, the country pleasant and 
inviting, and the natives friendly, population rapidly 
increased; the colony afibrding an asylum for dis- 
senters driven from Virginia by Episcopalians, and 
for Episcopalians driven from the eastern colonies by 
dissenters; who were severally received and che- 
rished without distinction. 

Though in the charter, no right was reserved to 
the crown, to annul laws made by the colonial go- 
vernment, as had been common in the charters of 
other colonies, no attempt was ever made by the Ca- 
tholic authorities, to infringe on equal liberty of con- 
science. 

But notwithstanding the family of Calvert, in those 
7 



74 VIRGINIA. 

days of bigotry and intolerance, thus governed the pro- 
vince with equity and liberality, yet by the influence oi 
political revolutions in England, and the base intrigues 
of unprincipled men, they were three times, at different 
intervals, deprived of their government — the liberal- 
ity of their plans subverted — and cruel laws enacted 
by the usurped authorities, to oppress them and their 
brethren, with others who deviated from the Episco- 
palian doctrines, on account of their religion. 

After being the third time reinstated in their rights, 
the family continued to hold the province till the re- 
volution of 1776, when their authority ceased, on the 
adoption by the people of a new constitution. 



SECTION 12th. 

VIRGINIA. 

The first settlement in this state was begun by a 
colony sent out by the London or South Virginia 
Company, who, in the year 1607, sent over three ships 
with above one hundred persons, under the marine 
command of Christopher Newport. Several unsuc- 
cessful attempts had before been made under the au- 
spices of sir Walter Raleigh, to establish a colony on 
tlie southern coast, when the whole country had re- 
ceived the name of Virginia, from Elizabeth the vir- 
gin queen, then reigning. 

The attempts thus made were upon the coast now 
called North Carolina. They appear to have failed, 
partly from the want of a sufficient knowledge of the 
requisites for such an undertaking, in a land so distant 
and unknown. 

The destination of those three ships, was directed 
to the same part; but a storm driving them into the 
mouth of Chesapeake bay, was the means of carrying 
them to a place more favourable for their enterprise. 

They sailed up a beautiful river, which they named 



VIRGINIA. 75 

James river, in honour of their king. They were re- 
ceived by the natives with a friendly hospitality, and 
freely offered land to cultivate. The place of their 
landing they called James town; which name it still 
bears. 

The country being an extended wilderness, and the 
natives subsisting chiefly upon the flesh of the wild 
beasts of the forest, which they procured by hunting, 
they could not be expected to afford ample means of 
subsistence for a long time, to so large a company, 
habituated to a different mode of life. 

Yet insubordination and disorder, being quickly 
manifested among the company, they were careless of 
providing seasonably for their own wants, by the cul- 
tivation of the land given them by the native chiefs. 

The provisions brought with them failing, famine 
ensued. By this, added to the diseases of a warm 
climate, to which they were unaccustomed, nearly 
half their number died in a few months. 

By these distresses the}^ were for the present hum- 
bled. And perceiving the necessity of order in their 
settlement, they conferred the chief authority upon 
John Smith, one of their principal men, whom they 
had before unjustly disgraced. He was a man of 
great promptitude and energy of character. But in- 
stead of assiduously cultivating peace and friendship 
with the natives, he resorted to fortification, as the 
chief, and in his view the only, effective means of se- 
curity; not considering, perhaps, that the surest way to 
bind the human family to each other in peace and 
friendship, is by the observance of strict justice, and 
a faithful reciprocation of good offices. 

Thus defended, the colon}^ soon manifested a dis- 
position which excited distrust in the natives. And 
Smith, resorting to violence, in cases where he could 
not at once prevail by mild means to obtain necessary 
supplies, was after some time captured by the natives, 
and condemned to death. 

At the moment appointed for his execution, Poco- 
hontas, a young, beautiful, and favourite daughter of 



76 VIRGINIA. 

Powhatan, the presiding king, rushed forward, and 
interposing her own person between the prisoner and 
the uplifted weapon, implored her father to save him. 
Her entreaties prevailed; and Smith was sent home 
with honour under a strong escort; when he found 
the colony reduced to thirty-eight. 

By means of occasional small supplies from the 
tribes, and by the bounty of the princess Pocohontas, 
who sent them all the aid in her power, being then 
under thirteen years old, the colony was sustained till 
the second arrival of captain Newport; who brought 
with him beside a stock of provisions, one hundred 
and twenty colonists. 

The present difficulties being overcome, disorder 
and confusion again appeared among the colonists. 
The authority of Smith was rejected; and capricious 
transfers of authority from one to another were made; 
till finding themselves involved in great difficulties, 
they again invested Smith with the government; who 
succeeded in restoring order for a time. 

The company, in 1609, sending out three ships, 
with a band of officers, for the colony, the ship in 
which the officers sailed was wrecked on Bermudas: 
and many of the settlers w^ho arrived in the other 
two were'profligate and vicious. These circumstances 
called forth in Smith a determined and resolute con- 
duct; by which he succeeded in maintaining his au- 
thority. 

The Indians, in the mean time, sensible of their 
accumulating wrongs, and jealous of the growing 
power of the English, concerted a plan to destroy 
them. 

The catastrophe was prevented by the faithful 
friend of the colonists, the youthful and compassion- 
ate Pocohontas; who exposed herself to the perils of 
the wilderness, alone, and in the darkness of a dreary 
night, in hastening to apprize the colony of the danger. 

Smith was soon after under the necessity of return- 
ing to England, to procure relief from the effects of 
a violent explosion of gunpowder, by which he had 



VIRGINIA. 77 

been severely injured. After his departure, the na- 
tives renewed their attacks; and the colonists were 
reduced by famine to such extremity as to feed upon 
the skins of horses, and at length upon the carcasses 
of the natives whom they slew. Thus by war, fa- 
mine, and disease, was the colony again reduced from 
five hundred to sixty persons. 

On the arrival of the lord Delaware as new gover- 
nor, who brought a supply of provisions, he by his 
prudence, industry, and conciliating measures, suc- 
ceeded in restoring order and contentment: the co- 
lony, previous to his arrival, having determined on 
returning to England, in two vessels built at Bermu- 
das, by those who had been there shipwrecked, and 
who had just arrived. 

After this time, new shipments of settlers arrived, 
and new towns were built, and settlements extended. 

In 1612, a captain Argal, trading in the Potomac, 
found means to decoy Pocohontas on board his ship, 
and treacherously carried her to James town; in the 
hope that the captivit}^ of his favourite daughter, 
would induce Powhatan, to agree to submissive and 
humiliating terms of peace. But he, indignant at the 
base treachery of Argal, refused any terms till his 
daughter should be restored to him upon an offered 
ransom. 

A general peace with all the neighbouring tribes, 
was, however, brought about by another interesting 
circumstance. 

During the captivity of Pocohontas, her beauty, 
her dignified innocence, and artless graces, engaged 
the affections of a respectable young planter: and a 
reciprocal attachment being produced, they w^ere 
married, with the consent of the king her father, and 
a general peace was the consequence. 

The young planter conducted his princess on a 
voyage to England, where she was greatly and gene- 
rally beloved, and w'as received at the king's court 
with the respect and consideration due to her rank. 
Having taken passage to return, wshe died on ship- 
7* 



iO VIRGINIA. 

board; leaving an infant son, who became the ances- 
tor of a very respectable line of offspring, who value 
their honourable descent. 

Emigrants continuing to arrive, and the colony to 
advance in improvement, the inequality between the 
male and female population, became a subject of in- 
teresting consideration; the result of which was, the 
shipment from England, by several ships, of one hun- 
dred and fifty girls, of spotless character, for a sup- 
ply of wives for the young planters. These, to pay 
the expenses of their voyage, were charged to the 
young men at 150lbs. of tobacco each; and were soon 
disposed of at those prices. 

It is to be observed, that as tobacco had then be- 
come the staple produce of the country, the exchange 
in every transaction in trade, was calculated in a pro- 
portion to the price of that article in the London mar- 
ket. The salaries of the public functionaries were 
rated at a certain quantity of tobacco; and the fees in 
the public offices were graded, according to their con- 
sequence, by different quantities of tobacco. 

After the colony had continued some years in a 
prosperous state, fast advancing in population, and in 
the requisites for independence and comfort, Powha- 
tan, who had been its friend since the marriage of his 
daughter, died. The chief who succeeded him in 
power and influence, alive to a sense of injuries, and 
apprehending from the spread of the white popula- 
tion, that they would gain possession of the whole 
land, laid a new plan for their destruction. 

This plan was conducted with great secrecy, art, 
and address, till by a sudden and unexpected onset, 
the chief and his people, rushed upon the inhabitants, 
and three hundred and forty-seven in different towns 
were cruelly slaughtered. Further slaughter was pre- 
vented by the faithfulness of an Indian, resident in a 
white family; who being importuned to kill his mas- 
ter, gave him information of the intended massacre, in 
time for the remainder of the towns to avoid the de- 
struction intended. 



VIRGINIA. 79 

A war of extermination followed. Great numbers 
of the natives were slain, and the remainder, driven 
from the homes of their fathers far into the wilder- 
ness. But the number of whites became in the con- 
test greatly diminished; their towns reduced to eight, 
which had before amounted to ten times that number: 
and only one-fifth part of the population remaining, 
of the numbers who had arrived from England. Such 
are sometimes the disastrous consequences, where 
strict justice is not observed as the guiding star, and 
universal benevolence as the principle of action. 

The colony again revived, and but little further 
trouble from the natives occurred till a later period, 
when war with them again produced occasional dis- 
tress: their distant abodes not being so far removed 
as to prevent hostilities, when they found circum- 
stances to favour them. 

Troubles of other kinds attended the progress of 
the colony; though now rapidly advancing in popu- 
lation and general prosperity. Changes in their go- 
vernment took place by the king, revoking their 
charter. His officers were sometimes the instruments 
of arbitrary oppression, and his regulations of their 
commerce highly injurious. Resentment on the part 
of the people led to resistance; and at one time the 
different parties of king and people, were engaged in 
a destructive civil war; in the progress of which 
James town was burned, and some of the fairest and 
most productive districts overspread with ruin. 

Tranquillity was again restored by the submission 
of the popular party on the death of their leader. And 
notwithstanding the arbitrary regulations of monarch- 
ical power, the colony continued rising on the scale of 
general prosperity for more than half a century, till the 
war with France between the years 1750 and 1760, 
again exposed the frontiers of the province to Indian 
depredation. 

Soon after this war was ended, this, with its sister 
provinces, became engaged in those disputes with the 



80 VIRGINIA. 

parent government of Great Britain, which resulted 
in the declaration of independence. 

As in the progression and gradual advancement of 
the province, for the space of more than a century 
and a half from its first settlement, many of the inha- 
bitants had become wealthy, the subject of education 
had received among the upper classes, a proportion- 
ate share of attention. And the circumstances of the 
country favouring the expansion of genius in minds 
formed for greatness, Virginia was furnished with 
many characters, eminent in abilities, as enlightened 
statesmen and legislators; and qualified to guide the 
helm of government in times of uncommon trial and 
difficulty. Foremost in the list of these stands 
George Washington; the mention of whose name 
alone in the present day, is sufficient to revive in re- 
collection, whatever we know, belonging to the cha- 
racter of the dignified citizen, the efficient com- 
mander, and the great statesman. 

Recurring to the earlier periods of provincial his- 
tory, it may be observed, that as in the domestic go- 
vernment of the eastern provinces, the Presbyterian 
or Calvinistic influence prevailed, so in Virginia, the 
Episcopalian was predominant. Under its despotic 
rule, the province was divided into parishes, a priest- 
hood established by law, and severe enactments passed 
and sometimes rigorously enforced, extending to im- 
prisonment and confiscation of goods, of those who, 
dissenting from the opinions of the established church, 
were restrained by conscience from conformity. The 
salaries of the priesthood as those of other officers of 
the government, being fixed at a certain stipulated 
quantity of tobacco. 

Resistance, however, became popular some years 
before the revolution; and after a severe struggle in 
a legal contest, when the community were reduced to 
despair of success, the cause of the people triumphed 
in the decision, by means of the unrivalled eloquence 
and skilful management of Patrick Henry, in his very 
first effort at the bar of a court. 



KENTUCKY, 81 

From that time forward the cause of church estab- 
lishments withered; the current of public sentiment 
setting too strongly against compulsive measures for 
a renewal of the struggle by the clergy, with any 
hope of success. 

Early after the first settlement in the colony, a 
Dutch vessel brought to it a number of African slaves, 
who were purchased by the inhabitants. From this 
deplorable introduction, the practice of bringing this 
people to the colonies became common. The legis- 
lative assemblies, perceiving the direful consequences 
to which the continuance of this trade would lead, 
and aware of its inhumanity, from time to time 
passed laws, prohibiting the practice. But as the 
kings had reserved to themselves, a negative on the 
colonial enactments, the laudable efforts of the assem- 
blies were always rendered void by the royal nega- 
tive; either vainly swayed by a disposition to demon- 
strate the existence and power of the ro3^al preroga- 
tive, or influenced by the hard-hearted arguments 
and supposed interests of the British merchants. 

Thus, were the wise and benevolent measures of 
the assemblies, from time to time, rendered abortive j 
and thus was the colony compelled to submit to the 
entailment upon it of a curse the most degrading; to 
the indelible disgrace of the British monarchs then 
reigning. 



SECTION 13th. 

KENTUCKY. 

The territory of Kentucky, on the western con- 
fines of Virginia, was man}/^ years considered as be- 
longing to that government. It was the seat of much 
bloody contest between some of the native tribes; 
who contended with each other for the possession, or 
exclusive use as hunting grounds. It was also a 
ground warmly contested between the white inhabit- 



82 KENTUCKY. 

ants of the frontier settlements in Virginia, and the 
native warriors; who, as opportunities offered, re- 
sented what they viewed as intrusions upon their ter- 
ritory. 

Their warlike incursions into the white settle- 
ments, being marked with all the cruelty of their 
mode of warfare, the aggravating circumstances of 
their expulsion from their former lands, were oblite- 
rated from the memor}^, or candid consideration of 
the white population, by the grievous sufferings of 
the victims of Indian revenge, who fell into their 
power. They were therefore viewed by many of the 
people, as abandoned savages unworthy of existence; 
and their extermination was consequently the predo- 
minant wish, with many, who had fixed their abode 
on the frontier of white settlement. 

Kentucky, being thus eminently the field of war, 
became at length the fruit of conquest, and not of 
purchase. lis name is said to have relation to the 
horrors of warfare, transacted on the bosom of its 
surface. 

An eminent forerunner in its conquest and settle- 
ment, was a Daniel Boone, a military colonel; whose 
passion was, always to take the lead of population; 
and who, when inhabitants began to multiply around 
him, moved on, to another wilderness frontier, and 
still to another, till a very advanced period of life; 
enjoying more pleasure in savage solitudes, than 
when surrounded by the social circles of society. He 
began the first white settlement in Kentucky in the 
year 1775. 

The district being of a very fertile soil, was mucli 
resorted to by emigrants, soon after the revolution; 
before the purchase and opening of the country north- 
west of Ohio river. It was received into the Union 
as a separate state in the year 1792, 



NORTH CAROLINA. 83 

SECTION 14th. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

Except the early abortive attempts at colonizing 
the southern coast under the patronage of sir Walter 
Raleigh, the first settlement of Europeans in this 
state, appears to have been begun about the middle of 
the seventeenth century. Previous to this, a grant 
had been made of the territory, to sir Robert Heath, 
by king Charles I., but no settlement was made 
under it. 

Persons fleeing from religious persecution in Vir- 
ginia, were the forerunners in actual settlement. 
These, being removed from the jurisdiction of other 
provinces, held themselves not bound by any of their 
laws; but maintained their internal polity, by an ob- 
servance of the laws of nature, morality, and con- 
science. They were located on Albemarle Sound. 
The climate being mild, and the winters open, they 
lived with little labour, in the enjoyment of all the 
necessaries of life. 

In 1661, some adventurers from Massachusetts ar- 
rived, and commenced a settlement near Clarendon 
river; but finding the situation unpropitious in soil 
and circumstances, they deserted it, to seek better 
quarters in other settlements. 

In 1663, the territory was granted to the lord Cla- 
rendon, in company with seven other proprietors; 
who were invested with the powers of government, 
under which they proclaimed liberty of conscience. 

At the desire of the patentees, a form of govern- 
ment was prepared by John Locke; who, though 
justly celebrated for his philosophical researches, and 
for liberality of religious views, had not arrived at 
the same expanded notions of political liberty, which 
were entertained by the colonists. Attempts to en- 
force his constitution were therefore opposed by the 



84 NORTH CAROLINA. 

people; and insurrection and political tumult pre- 
vailed, till the prospect of an armed force from Vir- 
ginia, induced the people for the present to submit. 

These internal dissent ions, however, retarded the 
progress of the colony. And its distresses were much 
increased, by the vicious and cruel rapacity of a go- 
vernor appointed over it; who enriched himself by 
the plunder of the innocent and bribes from the guilty. 
After enduring his oppressions for six years, he was 
seized by the inhabitants, tried by the assembly, and 
banished. 

Under several of the next governors the colony 
was prosperous, and in 1693, the aristocratic consti- 
tution of Locke was annulled, at the request of the 
people, and one more congenial to their wishes es- 
tablished. 

Early in the next century, the colony received a 
considerable increase of population, by the arrival of 
a large number of French and German protestants, 
fleeing from the rigours of persecution. To these the 
proprietors granted lands on liberal terms; but after 
a few years enjoyment of their new possessions, their 
quiet was disturbed, and many of them destroyed by 
Indian warfare. 

We are furnished with no accounts of fair purchases 
of soil being made from the natives; and historians 
agree in stating, that they were exasperated by re- 
cent injuries suffered from the white population of 
the country, and were apprehensive of being entirely 
supplanted from the inheritance of their fathers. Un- 
der such circumstances, they knew no distinction be- 
tween the different settlements, provided they were 
white men encroaching on their rights. They there- 
fore fell upon the frontier towns of those German co- 
lonists, and an indiscriminate massacre marked their 
steps. 

War ensued. An army was raised. Succours from 
South Carolina arrived. And many of the Indians 
were destroyed and made prisoners, and some of 
them reduced to slavery. The remainder of the Tus- 



TENNESSEE. S5 

caroras, the most powerful tribe on that coast, then 
removed north to the lake country; and the residue 
of the natives afterward submitted to necessity, and 
continued friendly. 

The interests of the proprietors and colonists seem- 
ing to be opposed to each other, and the latter com- 
plaining to the king, he, upon inquiry in his courts, 
declared the charter of the former forfeited, and sub- 
stituted a government under officers appointed by 

himself. 

The soil in the interior being found fertile, and the 
climate inviting, many flocked to it from other colo- 
nies, and a general prosperity attended the province 
till the time of the revolution. 

During several years of the struggle for indepen- 
dence, the people of this state, and those of South Ca- 
rolina, were subjected to severe suffering by internal 
dissentions. A part of the population, held themselves 
bound by their covenants of allegiance to their late 
sovereign, and their sentiments were in favour of the 
monarchical interest. Others had imbibed all the ar- 
dour of the principles of the revolution, and were 
persuaded of the justice of throwing off an oppressive 
foreign yoke. The two parties were mingled toge- 
ther in the same towns and neighbourhoods, and as 
passing occurrences tended to the depression or irri- 
tation of either, they mutually suffered their passions 
to become excited, to the point of partizan war; in- 
flicting on each other the most shocking waste of life 
and property — a state of society certainly much re- 
gretted, by the enlightened citizens of the present 
day. 

SECTION 15th. 

TENNESSEE. 

This state, though far distant from the sea-coast of 
North Carolina, was considered and held as a part of 
that state till some years since the revolution. Set- 
S 



86 SOUTH CAROLINA. 

tlements in it previous to the revolution were not ex- 
tensive. The first which attained to permanency ap- 
pear to have been made in East Tennessee, in 1768 
and 1769, and in West Tennessee in 1779. The dis- 
tinction between the two divisions being now com- 
mon when treating of the state, as marked by the 
passage of the Cuniberland mountain. 

The country was owned by three or four powerful 
native tribes, who were formidable in their resistance 
to encroachments on their territorial rights. As early 
as 1757, a settlement was attempted to be enforced, 
by building a fortification, and placing a garrison in 
the country; but in two or three years after, on 
open war ensuing, the fort was taken, and the garri- 
son and inhabitants consigned to slaughter. On the 
whole, such was the state of unsettlement, uncer- 
tainty, and frequent distress, attending the progress 
of a forced settlement, by the power of the sword, 
that in a late celebrated work, it is styled, '^ A Colo- 
nization made in blood." 

In so far as the territory may be considered a sub- 
ject of earlier history, its history is necessarily in- 
cluded in that of the parent state. It was received 
into the Union as an independent state in the year 
1796. The territory having been previously ceded 
to the general government by that of Nortli Carolina. 



Section 16th. 

SOUTH CAROLIXA. 

The territory of this state was included in the 
charter granted to the lord Clarendon and others; and 
was for some years of the infancy of settlemei>t, held 
in some sort as one with the former. 

The first permanent settlement in the part which is 
now South Carolina, was made in 1670, at Port 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 87 

Royal. In the next year a town was founded on 
Ashley river and named Charlestovvni; but the situa- 
tion appearing afterward to be inconvenient, the in- 
habitants changed their location in 1680, to the site 
of the present city, and gave it the former name; 
which has since been changed to Charleston. 

In 1690, the same person, who, upon his trial by 
the assembly, had been banished from North Caro- 
lina, for his baseness and oppression, made his en- 
trance into Charleston, and by the aid of his partizans 
assumed the government; which he held for tv/o 
3-ears before he was expelled. 

The settlement of the colony had been materially 
advanced by the arrival of Dutch settlers from New 
York, after the conquest of that colony under the 
duke of York — by puritans from England, who re- 
tired from the influence of the profane and profligate 
court of Charles II. — and by French Protestants, 
driven into exile by the rigorous conduct of Louis 
XIV. 

These last brought with them their wealth, and 
conducted themselves in a meritorious and praise- 
worthy manner. Yet the English professors, of the 
Episcopal church, suffered their narrow party views 
to prevail over reason and the sublime principles of 
Christianity. Hence, these inoflensive and industri- 
ous people, were arbitrarily deprived of their politi- 
cal rights, till by patient submission, they conquered 
the persecuting spirit of their enemies, and were ad- 
mitted to a political equality. 

Although the proprietors had proclaimed perfect 
liberty of conscience, yet violent eff'orts were used by 
one of them, who was a bigoted churchman, to de- 
stroy that liberty and establish the English church 
upon its ruins. By the aid of a governor, who was 
pusillanimous and avaricious, and by resorting to bri- 
bery and intrigue amongst the voters, he succeeded 
in securing a majority in the assembly, compliant 
enough to pass a law to that effect. 

The people, thus deprived of their dearest rights, 



88 GEORGIA. 

remonstrated to the House of Lords, in England. 
These, voting their disapprobation of the law, queen 
Anne then reigning, annulled it by the royal autho- 
rity, and restored quiet to the colony. 

In the course of fifteen years after this period, the 
colony was twice involved in war with the natives, 
and once with the Spanish subjects in Florida. In 
their Indian w^ars, some of the native prisoners were, 
to gratify the avaricious disposition of the governor, 
sold as slaves — many on both sides were slain in bat- 
tle, and the remnants of the scattered tribes driven 
out of the province. 

Disputes of serious import between the people and 
the proprietors, on account of the oppressions exer- 
cised by some of the agents of the latter, continued to 
agitate the colony, till at length, on a full hearing be- 
fore the king in council, it was decreed, that the co- 
lony should be governed by officers of the king's ap- 
pointment. After this time, the province, though 
sometimes disturbed by Indian warfare and other in- 
ternal troubles, advanced in a course of general pros- 
perity until the period of the revolution. 



SECTION 17th. 

GEORGIA. 

The territory of Georgia is understood to have 
been included under the charter of the Carolinas; but 
it remained unsettled till after the king had annulled 
that charter, and taken those provinces under his own 
protection. 

In 1732, a plan was settled for establishing a colony 
on this unoccupied territory. This plan was insti- 
tuted for the benefit of the poor of Great Britain, and 
those of all nations suffering persecution on account 
of religion. It was devised by a company, who were 
prompted by disinterested benevolence. Every emi- 



GEORGIA. S9 

grant received a portion of land; and the expenses of 
the passage and first year's maintenance of the indi- 
gent, were defrayed by charitable donations. The 
province received its name from the reigning mo- 
narch, George II. 

The affairs of the colony were managed by twenty- 
one trustees, to whom the king had granted a charter. 
One of their early and wise regulations was, to prohi- 
bit the introduction of rum; which, however, they 
were unable to maintain long in force. 

The first shipment of settlers was placed under 
the direction of James Oglethorpe— an active friend 
to the plan — and composed of one hundred and thir- 
teen emigrants. Five or six hundred followed in 
1733. But these, being the idle and irresolute part of 
the poor of cities, who had become poor by their 
course of life, were unfitted for the labour of subdu- 
ing the heavy forests preparatory to tillage, and con- 
tinued afterward to be an expense upon the company. 

The trustees, therefore, found it necessary to ex- 
tend their invitations to more efficient labourers; with 
an offer of fifty acres of land to each head of a family. 
These ofiers brought over some hundreds from Scot- 
land, Switzerland, and Germany. 

When the trustees, in 1740, rendered an account of 
their proceedings, it was found, that the expenses in- 
curred had been very great in proportion to the ends 
achieved, and the hope of prosperity to the plan was 
involved in much doubt. 

About this time the British government declared 
war against Spain, and Oglethorpe was constituted a 
general in the war against the Spanish possessions in 
Florida. In this capacity he continued through the 
vicissitudes of the war, till it terminated in his favour. 

The disturbances of war were injurious to the co- 
lony. And other circumstances contributed to retard 
its prosperity, till at length, the trustees, disappointed 
of the success to their plan which they had hoped for, 
resigned their charter to the crown, and a royal go- 
vernment was placed over the colony in 1754. 
8* 



90 ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. 

Disturbances sometimes arose from the inroads of 
the Florida Indians; which generally ended in the 
triumph of the white inhabitants. After the change 
of government, the agriculture of the colony annually 
improved; and in consequence, a continual increase 
of products for export trade, advanced the general 
prosperity, till the period of the revolution. 



SECTION ISth. 

ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. 

The states of Alabama and Mississippi, comprise 
a territory which was occupied by several powerful 
tribes of Indians, for many years after the American 
revolution. This territory, has, at several different 
periods since the revolution, been the seat of war 
with those natives; who justly claimed a right to it. 
And numerous treaties have been made by the go- 
vernment with them; by which different portions of 
their territory have been from time to time pur- 
chased. A considerable portion of the upper part of 
these states, remained till very lately in their posses- 
sion, unpurchased. They have been encouraged by 
the government to adopt the modes of civilized life, 
and have made considerable progress in the cultiva- 
tion of farms, building of houses, planting orchards, 
and rearing cattle. 

The western boundary of the state of Georgia, not 
having, before the revolution, been definitely fixed, 
on principles adapted to its new relation in the fede- 
ral compact, the country was claimed by that state. 
But on the adjustment entered into by Congress, re- 
lative to the claims of different states, to unseated 
lands, this portion of territory became the possession 
of the United States, subject, however, to the Indian 
rights. 

From the territory was formed the two anticipated 



STATES AND TERRITORIES, &C. 91 

states; and as population extended to them in a suffi- 
cient ratio, they were severally received into the 
Union — Mississippi in the year IS 17, and Alabama 
in 1819. 



SECTION 19th. 

STATES AND TERRITORIES 

NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO RIVER. 

The states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, with 
the Michigan and Northwestern Territories, cover a 
country in which no considerable settlements of white 
population were planted, till some years since the re- 
volution. It was nevertheless a part of the territory 
of the United States, as acknowledged in the treaty of 
peace with Great Britain, in 1782 and 1783. 

It was then, and for ten or twelve years after the 
revolution, wholly owned and occupied, as the hunt- 
ing grounds of various native tribes. 

A bloody w^ar commencing between those tribes 
and the United States, was continued until the sum- 
mer of 1795; when the natives, being reduced in 
numbers, and unable longer to maintain the contest, 
consented to a treaty of peace, to include the cession 
of a large part of the country to the United States go- 
vernment. 

This treaty having been concluded by general 
Wayne, who had conducted the war, is thence com- 
monly called Wayne's treaty. General Wayne, as 
agent of the government, agreed to pay the tribes a 
sum of money in hand, and a considerable annuity for 
a term of years, for the territory then ceded. 

Several treaties have been since held, at which 
large additional portions of the territory have been 
contracted for in a similar manner. Perhaps there is 
now no portion of it uncovered by those contracts. 

Very soon after Wayne's treaty, the surveying of 



92 STATES AND TERRITORIES, &C. 

the territory bordering more immediatel}' on the Ohio 
river was commenced, when it was laid out at right an- 
gles, into sections of a mile square; equal to six hundred 
and forty acres. Of these sections, the emigrants to 
the country, bought of the agents appointed by the 
government, a vvhole, a half, or a quarter, according 
to their means: the price being fixed at two dollars 
per acre. Much of the country was however taken 
by speculators, with a view of profiting by the ad- 
vance of price to be expected from intermingled and 
constantly increasing population. 

The country being rich in soil and native produc- 
tions, settlements were immediately begun, and were 
found to extend with unexampled rapidity. 

The district which is now the state of Ohio, soon 
acquired a population sufficient to entitle it to a re- 
presentation in Congress, and was admitted as a state 
in the Union in the year 1802. Its population and 
improvements, have advanced with such rapidity, 
that it is already ranked with relation to its represen- 
tation in Congress as the fourth state in the Union. 

The rate of the increase of population in Indiana 
has been similar to that of Ohio; yet, being more dis- 
tant from the eastern and middle states, from which 
the great tide of emigration flowed, the overwhelm- 
ing influx did not so soon reach it. Indiana was ac- 
knowledged as a state in 1816. 

Illinois being still more distant, is not in general 
so densely peopled to the present time. It however 
possesses great advantages, and is fast increasing in 
population and wealth. It was received into the 
Union as a state in the year 1818. 

The Michigan territory is now rapidly progress- 
ing in the increase of population. The western canal 
of New York communicating with lake Erie, fur- 
nishino: so easy and cheap a mode of transportation 
for families to the border of the territory, affords the 
emigrants great and very important facilities; which 
naturally increase their inducements to choose that 
department for their new homes. It being a matter 



LOUISIANA, MISSOURI, &C. 93 

of very important and expensive concern, for a man 
possessing but little property, to transport by land, 
and with the desirable portion of comfort to all con- 
cerned, a large family, consisting of delicate females, 
young children, and in some cases accompanied by 
aged, enfeebled, and dependant parents, to whom his 
near affections are bound, to a distance of many hun- 
dreds of miles, exposed to all weathers, and the diffi- 
culties of mountainous and imperfect roads. 

The inhabitants of this territory will probably be 
sufficiently numerous to make application to be in- 
stalled in the rights and liberties of an independent 
state in a few years from the present. 

The Northwestern territory, remains to the pre- 
sent time with but few white inhabitants. Several 
counties are, however, laid out, and a scattered po- 
pulation beginning to be planted in them. A large 
proportion has till very lately remained in the occu- 
pancy of some of the native tribes; who are probably 
not yet all removed. The territory remains under the 
territorial government of Michigan. Though much of 
the country is understood to be far inferior, in quality of 
soil, to the three states which are organized, yet other 
parts are rich, and the territory possesses many ad» 
vantages in mineral treasures and vegetable produc» 
tions, inviting settlement. 

SECTION 20th. 

LOUISIANA, 3iISS0URI, &c. 

About the time of the planting of the first colony 
in Virginia by the British, Canada was taken posses- 
sion of by the French nation, and a colony establish- 
ed there under the name of Quebec. But the pro- 
vince having since received the name of Canada, we 
now call the whole country north of the great lakes, 



94 LOUISIANA, MISSOURI, &C. 

and the river St. Lawrence, by that name. The Ca- 
nadian country remained in possession of the Frencli, 
till the year 1760, when the British obtained posses- 
sion of it by conquest. 

Though the French colonists settled but a small 
part of Canada for a long time after their first esta- 
blishment in it, yet they made an extensive acquaint- 
ance with the northern and western Indians; and seem 
to have acquired an influence over them which ena- 
bled them to travel safely in frequent excursions 
through their country westward. 

The Spaniards had discovered the mouth of the 
Mississippi about the middle of the 16th century; 
but we have no account of their then taking further 
notice of it. It therefore remained without any Eu- 
ropean claim till the year 1673. 

In that year, a Fi^ench and a Canadian traveller, 
departing from Canada, pursued their journey south- 
westward, till they struck upon the Mississippi, near 
the mouth of Illinois river, and from thence conti- 
nued down the great river to the mouth of Red river, 
and returned to Canada. 

A few years after another French traveller who 
had been engaged in exploring the upper part of the 
Mississippi returning to France, upon his represen- 
tations at the court of France, a plan was laid to colo- 
nize the Mississippi country. Various expeditions 
were from time to time fitted out. A number of 
small French settlements were made at different 
times and at different stations, on the Mississippi 
and its branches, even to a distance far interior. An 
extensive trade with the natives was established, and 
the town of New Orleans founded. By these means 
the French established a kind of connexion from 
Canada throughout the whole continent; which they 
afterward, in time of war with England, attempted 
to strengthen, b}^ a line of military posts and fortifi- 
cations on the Ohio river. 

The country of the Mississippi continued under the 
dominion of France till the year 1763, when it was 



LOUISIANA, MISSOURI, &C. 95 

transferred to that of Spain. The Spanish govern- 
ment held it from that time till 1801, when by a 
new agreement between the two nations, it again re- 
verted to France. 

In a short time, the French government then reign- 
ing, more sensible of the necessity for funds, to car- 
ry on its extensive operations at home, than of the 
advantage to be derived from the possession of a dis- 
tant colony, agreed to sell to the United States, for 
the sum of 15,000,000 of dollars, their claim to the 
territory. 

This purchase was made in 1803, and comprehend- 
ed the whole country west of the river Mississippi, 
and north of the present line of the Mexican territory 
to the Pacific ocean, together with the eastern part of 
that which is now the state of Louisiana. 

It will of course be seen, that the state of Missou- 
ri, with the Missouri and Arkansa territories, are 
included within this purchase, and therefore in the 
present historical sketch. 

By this purchase, the United States acquired the 
command of the entire navigation of the Mississippi; 
which had before been a subject of difficulty, from 
the claims of Spain to the control of that channel of 
navigation, so vitally important to the prosperity of 
our western states. 

The people of Louisiana being satisfied with the 
change of government, the state as at present orga- 
tiized, was admitted into the Union in 1811. 

The whole remaining country west of the Missis- 
sippi, was afterward held as one territory, till popu- 
lation on the lower parts of the Missouri river, and 
in the region of the great lead mines, became sufficient 
to justify the organization of the state of Missouri. 
The act of Congress for its admission, was passed in 
1821. From that time the two territories of Missou- 
ri and Arkansa, remain as exhibited on the maps. 

The Missouri territory, is treated by some late 
geographers as having its western boundary upon the 
summits of the Rocky mountains; from its numerous 



96 LOUISIANA, MISSOURI, &C. 

heads, in the eastern declivities of which, the vastly 
extensive Missouri river is formed. 

The country between these mountains and the Pa- 
cific ocean, they denominate the Western territory, 
or the territory of Origon — the last from the river 
Origon, which is but another name for the Colum- 
bia; which flows westerly, from its numerous springs, 
issuing from the western declivities of those moun- 
tains. 

This country has been hitherto but little traversed 
by white men, and is therefore but very partially 
known. It is, however, known to be occupied by nu- 
merous tribes of native inhabitants, of various dispo- 
sitions and manners, but partaking in common of the 
general traits of Indian character. They support 
themselves by feeding upon the wild game, and upon 
fish. Of the last, the Origon river and the ocean, 
produce abundant supplies, in their proper seasons. 
The natural growths of grass and vegetables, support 
great numbers of animals, common on the east side of 
the mountains; and much of the soil, so far as known, 
appears to be adapted to cultivation. 

The country comprises an extent of about 900 miles 
north and south, and of an average breadth of about 
700 miles — equal in area to twelve or thirteen of our 
larger states. Though we have no account of any pur- 
chases of territory from the natives by our government, 
yet it appears, that several companies of adventurers, in 
different quarters of the Union, have formed designs 
of settlement upon the Origon, which they are making 
arrangements to realize. One company, having by 
accounts, already become stationed there. 



97 

SECTION 21st. 

FLORIDA. 

The name of Florida, it appears was given to this 
territory as early as the year 1512, by a Spaniard, 
named Juan Ponce de Leon, who in that year disco- 
vered the country. The name was, for a long time, 
understood to include the coast of Carolina. An at- 
tempt was early made by the subjects of France, to 
establish a colony on the coast. Their infant colony, 
however, after enduring great hardships, was extir- 
pated by a Spanish force, sent out for the purpose, in 
the year 1564. 

With many vicissitudes of greater and less prosperi- 
ty and adversity, Florida remained in possession of 
the Spanish Government until 1763; when, on the 
conclusion of a war between the two nations, it was 
ceded to the British. 

By the treaty of Paris, of 1783, on the termination 
of the war of our revolution, in which Spain had taken 
a part on the side of the United States, Florida was 
again ceded by the British government to Spain; as 
an indemnity for losses in other quarters, sustained 
by Spain, in the course of the contest then ended. 
The British government, having then finally lost their 
colonies, now composing the IJnited States, had the 
smaller inducement to wish to retain this detached 
portion; a part of which, moreover, had been conquer- 
ed, and passed into the possession of Spain, in the 
course of the war, two years before. 

Florida, thence, remained under the government of 
Spain, until it was purchased, and taken possession of, 
by our government, in 1821: soon after which a ter- 
ritorial government was established. 

The consideration paid for the territory, was 
5,000,000 dollars; which never passed into the Spanish 
treasury, but was apportioned, with the consent of 
9 



98 FLORIDA. 

the Spanish government, amongst the American mer- 
chants, as a partial compensation for losses sustained 
by them, in consequence of unlawful depredations 
upon their property, previously committed, by Spa- 
nish subjects, or by the government itself. 

Population does not appear to advance so rapidly in 
Florida, as to warrant the expectation, that its orga- 
nization as a state, will be very soon accomplished. 



RUDIMENTS 

OF 

If ATIONAI. KNOlVIiEDGR 

BOOK IL 



Having^ completed our sketches relating to the dis- 
covery of our country — to the inhabitants which pre- 
ceded us — and to our establishment as colonies, and 
progressive advances to the rank of independent states, 
we propose in this book to give first a concise account 
of the formation of our present federal compact in one 
general government, together with the form and prin- 
ciples of that government. And in the succeeding 
chapters to present a slight view of many subjects of 
general national interest. 

In this book we shall confine ourselves chiefly to 
objects and circumstances which are either interest- 
ing to the nation as a great whole, or which more par- 
ticularly connect together in a common interest, ex- 
tensive sections of our Union; and thus by ties, per- 
haps unnoticed without the aid of reflection, strength- 
en the great chain of general connexion, and essen- 
tially contribute to the general good. 

Following this plan, we reserve our further geo- 
graphical and statistical notices of the several indivi- 
dual states for our third book. 

The subjects to be introduced in the present book 
we shall present in the following order, viz: 

United States — Waters — Mountains and face of the 
country— Climate — Large native animals — Native ve- 



100 UNITED STATES. 

getable productions — Agricultural products — Mineral 
and geological substances — Manufactures in general — 
Salt mines and manufactures — Sugar manufactures — 
Manufactures of potash — Corporations — Insurances — 
Banks — Mint — Post offices — Patent office — Fisheries 
— Fur trade — Commerce — Commercial emporiums — 
Steam navigation — Canals — Rail roads — Water falls, 
medicinal springs and natural curiosities — Lines of 
measurement — Education — the Eagle map — Finally, 
definitions of a few legal terms frequently met with 
in newspapers and other periodical publications, and 
in public debates. 



CHAPTER I. 

UNITED STATES. 

The United States of America, was the significant 
title adopted by the thirteen provinces, on their de- 
claration of independence, in the year 1776; and the 
title which was eventually and formally acknow- 
ledged by the government of Great Britain, at the 
treaty of peace conducted at Paris, by the ministers 
of both nations, and finally ratified in the year 1783. 

These thirteen states, as they appear on the maps 
arranged along the Atlantic coast, exhibit great in- 
equality in their proportions of territory. This in- 
equality, it will be perceived, must have been owing 
to the peculiar circumstances attending the settle- 
ment of each individual government, as they became 
successively established. 

At that time the interior of the country was very 
little known. So little indeed was its geography and 
extent understood, that in the early grants, it was 
common for the patents, after fixing some kind of de- 
finite boundaries on the coast, to include the lands 
within those boundaries, westward, to the Pacific 



UNITED STATES. 101 

ocean; which clearly implies, that it was believed that 
the distance to that ocean was not very great. 

These grants, of course, could not be sustained; and 
other grants quickly succeeding, they mutually con- 
tributed to limit the boundaries of each other. No 
view of the far distant circumstances which were to 
follow, as exemplified in our present relations, could 
be brought then into operation, to the equalizing their 
territorial proportions. 

The extensive grants made to some of the earliest 
colonists, by the kings of England, in this random 
manner, with a very limited and inadequate know- 
ledge of the country, furnished a ground forconflicting 
claims among the states, after the independence of the 
country was established. Some of those claims ex- 
tended into the unsettled territory north-west of the 
Ohio, and other wilderness regions, and in various in- 
stances interlocked with each other. The subject oc- 
cupied the attention of Congress for a considerable 
time, in order to effect their amicable adjustment. 
The conflicting interests were at length reconciled, 
by mutual concesssion and compromise; and the sup- 
posed liens of states upon the unsettled wilds were 
chiefly surrendered to the general government, and 
became merged in the common national stock of pub- 
lic lands. 

The sales of public lands, have, from year to year, 
amounted to millions of dollars; forming a very im- 
portant item of national income; and the vast tracts 
yet remaining unsold, calculated at a very low price, 
are supposed to be capable of producing above one 
hundred millions of dollars. As the entire discharge 
of the national debt is now nearly completed, a law 
has passed both houses of Congress, to divide the 
amount which may be produced by sales, for several 
years to come, among the states, in proportion to their 
population and representation. 

The only argument which can now be adduced 
against the arrangement of the old states with respect 
to size, must be the inequality of representation in 
9* 



102 UNITED STATES. 

the senatorial department of our government, as re- 
spects the amount of population. Each state large 
and small sending two members. But this argument, 
if possessing any weight, may be considered as neu- 
tralized by other circumstances which it is not neces- 
sary here to name. 

In the states subsequently formed, from lands in 
the wilderness, the government has aimed at as near 
an equality of territory as circumstances would admit. 
The names, situations, and dates of establishment of 
these, have been recited in our first book. 

The several sections of country marked in the 
maps as territories, are districts which have not yet 
arrived at the aggregate ratio of population, which 
would authorize them to claim from Congress, their 
acknowledgment as independent states, and a partici- 
pation in the general government. Some of them 
have, however, territorial governments, under go- 
vernors appointed by the President of the United 
States for the time being, and the right to send each 
one delegate to the House of Representatives; who is 
at liberty to participate in its debates, but not enti- 
tled to a vote. 

After the restoration of peace, at the conclusion of 
the war of the revolution, when the people, relieved 
from the engrossing perplexities of public commo- 
tion, had become settled in their former habits of 
agriculture and commerce, it was soon discovered, 
that the ties by which the states had bound them- 
selves together, for the purpose of securing their in- 
dependence, were not adapted to all the ends neces- 
sary to the government and prosperity of a widely 
extended agricultural and commercial nation. 

Several expedients Vv^ere tried without attaining the 
desired result. Congress, as organized in the time of 
the war, continued its periodical sessions, without 
power delegated by the states, to provide adequate 
remedies for the present difficulties. 

The necessity of a more consolidated and efficient 
form of government, was clearly perceived by the 



UNITED STATES. 103 

most eminent statesmen of that day; at whose head 
we place George Washington; who as well under- 
stood the just and necessary principles of an efficient 
civil government as the arts of war. 

Congress continued to deliberate with prudent cau- 
tion and care for several years. Its members, with 
other enlightened citizens, watching with a paternal 
solicitude, the progress of the great political family, 
and the results of public measures. 

At length, after mature deliberation and observa- 
tion, a resolution was passed in Congress, recom- 
mending a convention from all the states, to be com- 
posed of representatives whom the people of each se- 
veral state should elect; whose duty it should be, to 
draught, in order to propose to the consideration and 
acceptance of the people, such a constitution for the 
general government of the United States, as should 
embrace the various objects desirable and necessary 
to the general prosperity of the great comm.onwealth; 
leaving, at the same time, the several states to the in- 
dependent management of their own local concerns, 
according as heretofore, to their own choice. 

Such a convention being agreed to, and the mem- 
bers duly elected, they met in Philadelphia in the 
year 1787. 

The convention, composed of men of the highest 
political standing and talent in the Union, after a la- 
borious session of four months, produced, and offered 
to the acceptance of the people, the form of a consti- 
tution, the best that they could attain to, by mutual 
concession and compromise, with a view to accom- 
modate the supposed sectional interests of the differ- 
ent sections of the great national community. 

The constitution thus proposed, having been duly 
accepted by the people of the several states, went into 
operation in the year 17S9; and with some slight mo- 
difications in some of its less important features, has 
remained to be the "law of the land" to the present 
time, and a standing monument to the wisdom and 
skill of its enlightened framers. 



104 UNITED STATES. 

The powers of legislation are vested in a Congress^ 
composed of a Senate of two members from each 
state, chosen by the state legislatures; and a House of 
Representatives, who, with but two exceptions, are 
elected directly by the people, in a ratio propor- 
tioned to the population. The present ratio, as fixed 
by Congress in 1832, on occasion of the new census 
of population, being one for each 47,700 inhabitants: 
five slaves being rated as equal to three whites. 

The President is the head of the executive depart- 
ment. He is elected for four years at one term, by 
persons elected by the people for that purpose, and 
who are therefore called electors. The electors are 
the same in number as the representatives and sena- 
tors in the General Legislature from each state; and 
the election is decided by a majority of the whole. 
If, however, there should at any time be three or 
more candidates proposed, and no one of them should 
receive a majority of the whole number of electoral 
votes, the choice then falls on the House of Repre- 
sentatives. The three which have received the high- 
est number of electoral votes, are presented to the 
House, and the result is then determined by a majo- 
rity of the states; the choice of each state being deter- 
mined by a majority of its representatives present; 
who vote in separate departments, to ascertain their 
own respective majorities. 

The President, is eligible by the constitution to be 
elected three terms in succession. But the prudent 
example set by the first incumbent — the great Wash- 
ington — of retiring at the end of the second term, 
seems to have established a precedent so firmly, that 
no one now thinks of proposing a candidate for a 
third successive election. 

The senators are elected for six years at one term, 
and the representatives for two years. 

A Vice President is also elected at the same time, 
and by the same electors as the President. It is the 
duty of the Vice President to preside over the delibe- 
rations of the Senate; or, in cases of disability, una- 



UNITED STATES. 105 

voidable absence, resignation, or death, of the Presi- 
dent, to fill his place till his return to office, or till the 
next periodical election. 

For the enactment of laws, the consent of the Pre- 
sident and a majority of each House of Congress, is 
necessary; except that, in cases wherein the President 
may dissent, and refuse his signature, any law in con- 
templation, may be passed and go into operation, by 
the votes of two-thirds of each House. 

If in either House, the number present be equally 
divided on any question, the decision is made by the 
castino; vote of the Vice President in the Senate, and 
by that of the Speaker who presides in the House of 
Representatives, who, in no other case are called upon 
to vote. 

The secretaries of state, of the treasury, of war, 
and of the navy, are considered the heads of their se- 
veral departments in the government, and these, who 
are all appointed by the President, with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, are considered as his con- 
stitutional advisers, in all important concerns wherein 
a discretionary judgment is admitted by the Consti- 
tution — particularly during the recesses of Congress. 
They are termed his cabinet counsellors, and he and 
they, in common familiar language, are termed *'The 
Administration.'' 

The supreme judiciary power is lodged in a pre- 
siding judge, called '^the chief justice of the United 
States," and in a competent number of associate 
judges, all of whom are appointed by the President, 
with the advice and consent of the Senate, and are 
termed, "The supreme court of the United States." 
They are not removable from office when once ap- 
pointed, except by resignation, impeachment, or 
death, and are therefore styled independent. 

This provision is considered wise and necessary, in 
order that in their judicial decisions, they may judge 
righteously; above the influence of fear, favour, or af- 
fection, of any man, party, or department in the 
Union; who might, from selfish principles, from of- 



106 UNITED STATES. 

fence, or from party politics, be inclined to seek their 
overthrow. 

The judiciary department is justly and properly 
considered as an eminently important link in the 
great chain of our general government. Because, to 
that court is committed by the constitution, a deci- 
sive judgment in the last resort, in all legal questions 
of high national importance. 

The judges are the constitutional expounders of the 
laws, and the interpreters of the provisions of the 
constitution itself, in cases where other authorities 
may differ in opinion. And hence, their appointment 
ought to be made with a view to their superior weight 
of moral and general character, tried integrity, up- 
rightness of principle, and profound legal knowledge; 
with no regard to the advancement of political par- 
ties, or to personal partialities. 

However imperfect human judgment, even under 
the highest attainments of intellectual perception^ 
may be, it will on slight reflection appear evident, to 
every mind uninfluenced by partial considerations, 
that a final judgment in every disputable case, must 
be lodged in some acknowledged head; even if that 
judgment, should in some cases, partake of the falli- 
bility belonging to human imperfection. Else, might 
the President, in his official station, judge in oneway 
— the Senate in another — the House of Representa- 
tives in a third — and individual state departments, 
perhaps differ from them all. 

Hence, each insisting upon tlieir own wisdom, and 
superior clearness of views, and acting according to 
them, confusion would pervade the affairs of the 
nation — anarchy would follow — the happiest institu- 
tions be destroyed — the constitution itself be rendered 
nugatory — and this great community of mutual bro- 
therhood, reduced to disjointed and shattered frag- 
ments, might become involved in civil commotion, if 
not subjected to the awful desolations of civil war. 
Those, therefore, who in any part of the Union, con- 
fiding in a partial, self-sufficient judgment of theii 



UNITED STATES. 107 

own, should undertake to defend, and bring into ope- 
ration, a different doctrine, would involve themselves 
and their deluded abettors in the most awful respon- 
sibility. 

The annual salary of the President, is at present 
fixed at 25,000 dollars, besides a house and furniture 
provided by the national expense. This sum is sup- 
posed to be sufficient to enable him to live in a be- 
coming style of republican simplicity, and to repre- 
sent the nation, in the reception and entertainment of 
the ministers and agents of foreign powers, public 
functionaries, and persons of distinction, to whom a 
national notice may be due, according to national 
usages. 

The salary of the Vice President is 5,000 dollars, 
and those of the secretaries, chief justice, associate 
judges, attorney general, and post-master general, 
vary, from 4,500 to 6,000 dollars per annum,"accord- 
ing to the responsibility, arduousness, or talent, sup- 
posed necessarily to attach to each office respectively. 

The first Congress, under the present constitution, 
which met in 17S9, held their session in New York. 
They soon removed to Philadelphia. In the latter 
city they continued to hold their sessions previously 
to the year 1800; when the capitol at Washington, in 
the District of Columbia, was prepared, pursuant to 
acts of Congress, for their reception. 

This district is composed of a territory ten miles 
square, on the river Potomac; partly in the former 
bounds of Maryland, and partly in Virginia. By 
these two states it was ceded to the government of 
the United States; for the purpose of laying out a 
city, and establishing public buildings on a liberal na- 
tional plan. It has since been governed by the laws 
of the states from which jts respective portions were 
separated, until superseded by laws of Congress; to 
verbose exclusive jurisdiction it has been consigned. 

The establishment of at constitution and form of go- 
vernment for our commonwealth, was justly consi- 



108 UNITED STATES. 

dered at the period of its formation, a great and very 
importantly interesting experiment. There was not a 
model in existence adapted in all its forms and provi- 
sions to our peculiar situation and circumstances. 

Though republics had anciently existed in Europe, 
at different periods, they mostly had their being in 
ages of the world when the principles of human na- 
ture were not perhaps so well understood, and when 
the manners of their own and surrounding nations, 
received a tone and influence, from the then preva- 
lent doctrines of superstition and idolatry. 

Republics of modern date, were perhaps, in some 
respects, still less to be looked to for examples; as 
they were limited by a contracted scale, and sur- 
rounded by neighbouring nations under monarchical 
governments, which, in a certain ratio, imparted an 
influence and direction to their institutions, in a 
greater or less degree at variance with the laws of 
equal liberty. 

Here was a nation, born as it were in a state of 
manhood — a people unshackled from all surrounding 
influence, and left at liberty to form, for the promo- 
tion of their own prosperity and happiness, a system 
of government embracing every principle of equal 
justice and equal rights — a people amongst whom he- 
reditary titles and badges of distinction were forbid- 
den an existence; and no citizen was to be permitted, 
in his civil capacity, to rank higher than another, ex- 
cept by means of a preference in public opinion, 
founded on his real or supposed merits, or his excel- 
lence of moral character, together with his talents and 
capability to guard, and promote, the public weal. 

Some of the nations of Europe viewed the experi- 
ment with distrust, and with an eye of jealousy and 
envy. Others, with anxious Jiope that a system would 
be formed and perpetuated, which should become the 
abiding refuge of rational liberty, denied to them- 
selves. Thus were the nations, though influenced by 
different motives, anxiously looking for the result. 

It was a happy circumstance for our country, that 



UNITED STATES. 109 

a band of men, partaking of the advantages of en- 
lightened education, and sound philosophical reflec- 
tion — trained to the endurance of greater or less de- 
grees of political oppression — inured by a seven years 
war to national distress — and endowed with a spirit 
of patient perseverance, in advocating and defending 
the principles of equal moral justice, were then 
amongst its citizens. Men qualified to glean from 
the institutions of distant nations, whatever was 
adapted to our peculiar situation, and to combine 
therewith other principles, which experience, obser- 
vation, and sober, sound reflection, suggested to their 
enlightened understandings. 

Amongst the models under their review, the con- 
stitution of Great Britain, though a monarchical go- 
vernment, appeared to present, with respect to the 
combination and division of legislative power, a valu- 
able example; though liable there to great abuses, 
from the nature of the civil and political relations 
which the difierent branches of the government held 
with each other. 

By the separation of the legislative power into three 
departments, a check was intended against usurp- 
ation by any one department; as no new law could 
go into operation without the consent of the whole 
three. This feature of the British constitution was 
adopted, though the application of the principle to us, 
was under very different circumstances. 

In England the head of the executive department 
is a hereditary king. In the United States, a Presi- 
dent, elected periodically by the people. 

In England, what they call the Upper House, con- 
sists of the hereditary nobility, with the newly created 
peers, and a numerous band of their highest order of 
priesthood; who all have, earlier or later, received 
their distinctions and titles, either directly or indirect- 
ly, from the crown; and who have always interests to 
defend, however unjustly, distinct from those of the 
mass of subjects. With us, the Senate, which may be 
10 



110 UNITED STATES. 

supposed in some respect to represent the Upper Bri- 
tish House, are taken from the mass of the citizens by 
their own free elections, and have therefore no distinct 
interest* 

In England, the House of Commons, is the only 
branch of the government in which the people, by 
their rights of election, have a choice; and the elec- 
tions to this branch, are liable to be influenced and 
controlled by bribery and intrigue, emanating from 
those who hold, and wish to retain power to main- 
tain oppression. With us, the representatives are 
elected by the same people as the former branches, 
and under circumstances much less liable to abuse. 

Thus, the boasted liberty of the people of England, 
may perhaps be considered as chiefly a kind of nega- 
tive liberty; but partially secured by the patriotic 
exertions of the popular branch of the government; 
who have no final power but a negative, to prevent 
further encroachments on the people's rights, which 
might be designed by the Upper House, and are al- 
ways liable to a negative from that House, to any 
new patriotic measures they may propose. But with 
us, the power of the whole three departments ema- 
nating from the same people, and resting on persons 
chosen from among themselves, the interests of the 
whole must be the same; and the negative power of 
any one over the others, given only as a salutary 
check, upon the mistaken judgment, or imprudent 
zeal, which may arise from the imperfections of hu- 
man nature. The people in the mean time, retaining 
to themselves, an inviolable right, to correct any 
abuses which may be seen to spring up under either 

* Though the assertion that the President and Senators are elected 
by the people, may be considered in one view as incorrect, yet it is 
conceived to be true in substance. When electors of President are 
voted for by the people, it is previously understood what candidate for 
the Presidency their electors shall vote for, and their pledges are ge- 
nerally given. The choice is therefore that of the people. Tliough 
the election of Senators is conferred on the State Legislatures, the 
people, when they elect them, know this to be a part of their duty, and 
therefore elect them with this object inclusively. They are then the 
direct representatives of the people, as relates to this part of their duty 
in common with their other functions. 



UNITED STATES. Ill 

department, by changing, by their votes at the next 
elections, all, or any, of their servants, in legislative or 
executive office, from highest to lowest. 

Having noticed the similitude of some features of 
the British constitution with our own, were we to 
pursue the comparison, we should perhaps find as 
striking traits of difference. 

In England, for instance, there exists a species of 
domination which our constitution wholly excludes. 
There, the nation is oppressed by a power incorpo- 
rated with the national institutions, assuming distinct 
prerogatives as its own, under the name of an esta- 
blished church hierarchy; and holding enormous es- 
tates in the landed property of the nation; by whose 
assumption of right, and by its organized grades of in- 
ferior priesthood, laborious industry, though already 
borne down by excessive taxation, for the support of 
a very expensive civil and military government, is 
deprived by law of much of the remaining fruits of its 
incessant toil. 

Here, our constitution is so framed as to forbid for- 
ever, the powers of the civil government, attempting 
to legislate, either directly. or indirectly, upon ques- 
tions involving the rights of conscience with respect 
to religious opinion, by patronising any one form of 
religious persuasion more than another; leaving the 
support of a stipendary ministry to the private volun- 
tary liberality of its patrons, according to their differ- 
ent conscientious persuasions, and wisely consider- 
ing our political and civil institutions, and the private 
operation of religious principle upon the mind, as to- 
tally distinct from each other. The first regarding our 
moral, political and social relations in civil society: 
and the last, our allegiance to the all-creative power, 
whose kingdom in the soul is spiritual, and whose 
laws have reference to a state which looks for its con- 
summation to a period beyond the confines of time. 

The benign religion of Jesus Christ was seen to re- 
quire no aid from human legislation; but to depend for 



112 UNITED STATES. 

its support, upon the doctrines, precepts, and example 
of its divine head, and the secret influences of his spi- 
rit upon the soul. Though temperate discussion and 
argument, on subjects of religion, for the information, 
persuasion, or convincement of each other, may, in 
the course of our social intercourse, be often useful 
and justifiable, and are strictly consistent with the 
principles of rational civil liberty. 

The constitution has now withstood the shocks of 
nearly half a century. Although some imperfection 
may appear to attach to some of its provisions, which 
may even involve an effect of sectional partiality, yet 
wise men have always considered it more prudent to 
suffer some apparent inconvenience than to endanger 
the fabric by frequent attempts at improvement, which 
may perhaps be but doubtful experiment, or at least, 
the propriety of which may not have been acceded to 
by all. 

The minds of reflecting youth, will, it is presumed, 
be impressed with the conviction, that great responsi- 
bility rests upon those advancing to m^anhood; and a 
moral necessity, to maintain a course of conduct the 
best calculated to preserve the excellent institutions 
with which, as a nation, we are blest. 

The foundation principle of such a course of con- 
duct, they will perceive to be a virtuous life. The 
community being made up of individual members, 
the private virtue and consistency of conduct attach- 
ing to individual character, will always ensure a cor- 
responding proportion of public virtue. And with- 
out the maintenance of both, our excellent system of 
government will always be in danger of subversion, 
by the violence of party commotion, the insidious in- 
trigues of designing ambition, the recklessness of sec- 
tional animosity, or the ruthless hand of traitorous 
rebellion. 

It becomes then an imperative duty, to cultivate 
and cherish in youth, the principles of true religion, 



SEAS AND LAKES. 113 

and sound morality — to endeavour to store the mind 
with useful knowledge — to exercise the faculties with 
rational reflection — and to apply with industry to 
useful pursuits. 

Thus will youth be prepared to enter the ranks of 
mankind with modest dignity — to conduct with pro- 
priety and honor, in advancing years, the aflfairs of 
civil society and civil government, which must de- 
volve upon them — to approach the evening of life 
with calm composure — to take leave of all its con- 
cerns at the close, with a serene mind and an approv- 
ing conscience, — and to bequeath to their successors 
in their turn, the fruits of their laudable industry, and 
the inheritance of their honorable examples and well 
earned fame. 



CHAPTER II. 
WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



PART FIRST. 



SJSdS AND LAKES. 

The south-eastern shores of the United States, from 
Maine on the Bay of Fundy to the southern point of 
Florida, are washed by the Atlantic ocean. An ocean 
of 3000 miles in breadth, which separates America 
from the continent of Europe. 

The southern boundary of the states of Louisiana, 
Mississippi, and Alabama, and the south-western 
shore of Florida, are limited by the gulf of Mexico— 
10* 



114 SEAS AND LAKES. 

a great sea, which may be considered as a part of the 
same ocean. 

The western shore of the extensive region pur- 
chased from the French government, is bounded by 
the great Pacific ocean. 

Thus the two longitudinal sides of our national ter- 
ritory, are washed by the two largest oceans in the 
world. And thus, are we widely and happily sepa- 
rated, from the conflicting commotions of the inhabit- 
ants of the European and Asiatic continents; whose 
ever jarring imaginary interests, guided and control- 
led, by the pride and haughty ambition, of Emperors, 
Kings, Princes, and Priests, have maintained amongst 
them an almost continual course of oppression, war, 
devastation, and bloodshed, from the period of the 
earliest historical records to the present time. 

The examples of other quarters of the world, thus 
exhibited, furnish lessons of deep and awful instruc- 
tion. Examples calculated to impress the necessity, 
and great moral and national obligation, which the 
citizens of the many sections of our extended commu- 
nity are laid under, constantly to act on the principle 
of good will, and mutual condescension, to the real in- 
terests of each other; lest the day should arrive, when, 
by giving way to, and cultivating, sectional jealousies, 
having no sufficient rational foundation, our great 
commonwealth should become dismembered, to the 
exultation of the enemies of republican liberty; and 
i'ts several portions — separated as in Europe only by 
rivers, mountains, or lines of latitude or longitude — 
become enemies to each other; and thus take a back- 
ward course, into the awful condition of the old world; 
often involved in bloodshed, and apparently travelling 
on the highway to mutual ruin. A state of things 
amongst them, wherein the Christian religion is na- 
tionally professed, seemingly as a blind, to keep the 
people in submission. Its undeviating principles of 
*' peace and good will to men," being subverted and 
betrayed, by the opposite principles of hatred, jea- 
lousy, ungovernable ambition, and ruinous strife; 
while they dare nationally to invoke its name, and 



ST. LAWRENCE. 115 

unblushingly to attempt to amalgamate its sublime 
doctrines with the worst of human passions. 

Northward of the United States are five great fresh 
water lakes or inland seas; called in old time *' the 
lakes of Canada" — sometimes " the northern lakes," 
and often in familiar parlance, emphatically '' the 
lakes." A line passing through four of them — to 
wit — Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior, and along 
their connecting river, forms, as far as they extend, 
the boundary line between the United States and the 
British provinces of Upper Canada. The fifth, call- 
ed Michigan, is included in the United States; and 
dividing the Michigan from the North-western terri- 
tory, is connected at its southern part with the states 
of Indiana and Illinois. 



PART SECOND. 



RIVERS AND BAYS. 



SECTION 1st. 

ST. LAWRENCE. 



The river connecting the great northern lakes, is- 
sues from a small irregular lake, north-westward from 
lake Superior, called '*the Lake of the Woods." — 
And passing through a chain of lakes still smaller, 
forms the line of the United States, till it enters lake 
Superior on the north-west side. Again, after connect- 
ing this with lake Huron, it passes thence through 
the small lake St. Clair, into lake Erie. Between 
Erie and Ontario, it bears the name of Niagara river. 



116 MISSISSIPPI AND ITS BRANCHES. 

About midway between the two lakes, is the most 
stupendous cataract which history has informed us of 
in the world. 

The body of water accumulated in its passage, from 
the different lakes and tributary rivers, is here very 
great; more especially, after a few days prevalence 
of strong north-westerly winds. 

For the distance of nearly a mile above the cataract, 
the river rushes down a rapid descent, over a very rough, 
rocky bottom; presenting by its foam and turbulent 
commotion, an appearance, which in the description 
of some travellers, has been compared to that of ten 
thousand horses rushing impetuously to battle. 

Having arrived at the lower end of this rapid, the 
river is precipitated over a curving line of rock, one 
hundred and sixty feet perpendicularly, into a vast 
foaming whirlpool below. The whole scene present- 
ing to the view and imagination of the astonished tra- 
veller, a prospect of the operations of the elements of 
nature, which is, by many, considered as beyond the 
powers of just description. 

The river afterward entering lake Ontario, passes 
from thence, separating Canada from the state of New 
York. After leaving New York, it flows on in a 
north-easterly direction, through Lower Canada, 
under the name of the river St. Lawrence; and pass- 
ing the cities of Montreal and Quebec, and expand- 
ing in its progress to a great breadth, discharges itself 
into the gulf of St. Lawrence. 

SECTION 2d. 

MISSISSIPPI AND ITS BRANCHES. 

The river Mississippi, because of its great length, 
its numerous navigable branches, and its importance 
in various national respects, may be considered as of 
the foremost consequence in a national point of view. 

Its sources are near the lake of the Woods, on the 



MISSISSIPPI AND ITS BRANCHES. 117 

northern boundary of the United States territory. 
Passing thence in a southern direction, it separates 
the North-west territory and the states of Illinois, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, on its eastern 
side, from the Missouri territory, the state of Missou- 
ri, the Arkansa territory, and part of the state of 
Louisiana on its western side. Then dissecting, the 
lower part of Louisiana, it discharges in the gulf of 
Mexico by several mouths, after a meandering course 
of nearly 3000 miles. 

It receives in its course many large and smaller 
rivers, and important tributary streams. It forms an 
outlet for the waters of the United States, flowing, and 
intersecting the country, in every direction, in ten 
thousand streams of every grade, from the humble 
rivulet to the magnificent river, from the northern 
boundary of the union to the gulf of Mexico on the 
south, and from the range of the Alleghany moun- 
tains on the east, to the Rocky mountains on the 
west. 

Its most important branches are as follows — some 
of which, again, receive other large and important 
rivers in their courses and near their discharge. 

On the east side, the Illinois river rises near the 
south end of lake Michigan; and intersecting the 
state of Illinois diagonally, enters the Mississippi 
nearly opposite the mouth of the Missouri. 

The Ohio rises in the western parts of Pennsylva- 
nia; and separating the states of Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois, on the north-west, from Virginia, and Ken- 
tucky on the south-east, discharges into the Missis- 
sippi, after a meandering course of 950 miles from 
Pittsburgh. It unites near its mouth with the noble 
rivers Cumberland and Tennessee; the first being na- 
vigable for steam boats and small craft 500 miles, and 
the last 1000 miles. 

On the west, the great and vastly extensive Mis- 
souri, rises in the Rocky mountains; and running in 
a south-easterly direction, and receiving in its course 
various large and important rivers, after dividing the 



118 SUSQUEHANNA AND CHESAPEAK. 

state of Missouri, it enters the Mississippi near St. 
Louis, the chief trading town of that state; comple- 
ting a sinuous course of 2643 miles, from the divi- 
ding ridge of the Rocky mountains. 

The Arkansa river, rising in the Rocky mountains, 
forms, for the space of eight degrees of longitude from 
its source, the line between the United States territo- 
ry and Mexico. Passing thence through the Missou- 
ri and Arkansa territories, it enters the Mississippi 
300 miles above New Orleans. 

Red river, rising in the Mexican territory, forms 
the dividing line between the south of the Arkansa 
territory and the Mexican province of Texas; and 
passing through Louisiana, connects with the Missis- 
sippi 120 miles above New Orleans. 

SECTION 3d. 

SUSQUEHANNA AND CHESAPEAK. 

The river Susquehanna, takes its rise in the state 
of New York, and passing through Pennsylvania in 
a southern direction, and entering Maryland, commu- 
nicates with the head of Chesapeak bay. The bay, 
passing on, intersecting Maryland and Virginia, and 
receiving in its course of nearly 200 miles, many im- 
portant rivers, discharges into the Atlantic ocean be- 
tween Cape Charles and Cape Henry. 

The bay of Chesapeak, and several of its tributary 
rivers, are remarkable in the history of our country, 
as being the scene of the operations of the first effi- 
cient European colonists — as the field of many im- 
portant transactions in the course of the several mili- 
tary contests between the United States and Great 
Britain, — and the river Potomac, — a very important 
branch, separating Maryland from Virginia — present- 
ing a site for Washington city — the seat of the gene- 
ral government. 



119 

SECTION 4th. 

DELAWARE. 

The river Delaware, rises in the state of New 
York, and separating that state and New Jersey on 
the east, from Pennsylvania and the state of Dela- 
ware on the west, expands into a wide bay, w^hich 
enters the Atlantic ocean between Cape May on the 
east, and Cape Henlopen on the west. The national 
advantages of this river and its branches, will be no- 
ticed in the conclusion of this chapter. 



SECTION 5th. 

HUDSON, OR NORTH RIVER. 

The Hudson has its sources in the northern parts 
of the state of New York, and running a course near- 
ly south, discharges in the harbor of the city of New 
York. 

This river is remarkable for its direct course of 
more than 200 miles, with very little sinuosity, and 
for the flowing of its tides nearly 180 miles from the 
ocean; dissecting in their course, the rugged and high- 
ly elevated Catskill mountains, and extending to Wa- 
terford, a few miles abo^/e Albany. It thus affords 
easy means of transport for the produce of the west 
of Massachusetts and Vermont, in addition to that of 
New York. 

It is of much national importance, from the circum- 
stances of its northern canal forming a connexion with 
lake Champlain, and thence with Canada; and its great 
western canal of 360 miles in length, communicating 
with lake Erie, and thence with the western states. 



120 

SECTION 6th. 

COLUMBIA RIVER. 

In the western part of Missouri territory, (a coun- 
try now by some called the Western territory) Lewis's 
river and Clark's river, rise in different parts within 
the range of the Rocky mountains; and after running 
a long distance in varied directions, unite and form 
the Columbia river; which flowing in a westerly 
course 300 miles, enters the Pacific ocean near the 
47th degree of north latitude. 

This river is deserving of notice in a national point 
of view, from the circumstance of its affording a water 
communication from near the head waters of the Mis- 
souri to the western ocean; and from its position and 
localities, offering flattering inducements, for esta- 
blishing, at some future day — perhaps not distant — 
of a settlement near its mouth. There, it is supposed 
might be concentrated, the fur-trade of the north- 
western regions; which, from thence, might find an 
easy transit, to China, to India, and to the western 
shores of Mexico and South America. 



That the waters we have noticed, may be consider- 
ed under the character of national interests, will be 
easily perceived. 

Our national territory, is allowed to extend three 
miles into the sea, from ever}^ part of the coast; and 
any aggression committed by foreigners, upon our 
commercial or other rights, within this limit, is con- 
sidered as reprehensible as if committed within our 
rivers; or even, perhaps, as a trespass upon land. 
Hence, this space of the ocean's verge, is viewed in 
the light of national property. 

The ocean, beyond this limit, being the great pub- 



WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 121 

lie highway of all nations, is consequently our high- 
way; whereon our vessels may, of indisputable right, 
pass to and fro, in our foreign trade, and for the trans- 
port of the produce and manufactures of one part of 
the Union on the sea coast to another. 

Again, the great rivers which intersect our coun- 
try, may, as respects our national body, be aptly 
compared to the arteries and veins of the animal sys- 
tem- — the channels through which the produce of our 
industry, as the political life-blood of the nation, may 
freely flow and circulate, from member to member, to 
the health and invigoration of the great whole. 

Where the capacity of those rivers in their natural 
state, is unfitted for the desired purpose, as they fur- 
nish the fluid medium whereon to float the substances 
to be transported, their defects are capable of being 
supplied by the labours of human industry and enter- 
prise: by improving their channels, or forming canals 
along their borders; or in some cases across extensive 
tracts of country, to be supplied by the head streams 
of their branches, which rise far interior. 

In this point of view the Hudson is a highly valu- 
able public interest; by reason not only of the navi- 
gation upon its natural tides, but of its extensive ca- 
nals, by which easy means of transport, are opened 
to the north and the west. 

The Delaware and Susquehanna are equally so; the 
Schuylkill branch of the former, furnishing the means 
of uniting, by a continuous course of canal naviga- 
tion, with the eastern waters of the latter; and it 
again, by its main stream and western branches, con- 
tinuing the benefit westward, to the waters of the Al- 
legheny, descending into the Ohio. 

Further south, the Potomac, furnishing a superior 
channel of navigation, from the Chesapeak bay to 
\yashington citv, and Georgetown, is about to be 
united, by means of a canal along its banks, with the 
waters of the Ohio. 

Still further to the south, a line of internal commu- 
nication has been projected, to unite the western wa- 
ll 



122 WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ters with the ocean, at the mouth of Chesapeak bay^ 
by connecting the beautiful James river with the Ken- 
hawa, a branch of the Ohio; and much has already 
been done towards effecting this desirable object, 
by the enterprising citizens and government of Vir- 
ginia. 

We have also ample reason to believe, that from 
the near approach of the noble Tennessee river to the 
waters of the state of Alabama, a connexion between 
them may be easily effected; and thus a direct com- 
munication be opened between the delightful fertile 
regions of the state of Tennessee, and the gulf of 
Mexico; shortening the water course of the trade of 
the chief portions of that state to the ocean, by many 
hundreds of miles. 

•Thus, are four great channels of trade already pro- 
jected, and the fifth easily practicable, to bind toge- 
ther the interests of the east, the west, the north and 
the south. The first, through New York, having 
been for years in successful operation. The second, 
through the heart of Pennsylvania, far advanced to- 
ward completion. The third, by the Potomac, ad- 
vancing with a spirit of enterprise worthy the great- 
ness of the object. And the fourth, by the James 
river, in a favourable state of forwardness. 

The Delaware, also, by its principal canal from 
Bristol to Easton, and thence by the canal formed 
along its Lehigh branch, furnishes easy access to the 
vast deposites of anthracite coal, in the mountain of 
Mauch Chunk and its vicinity — a subject of great na- 
tional interest. The Susquehanna, again, by its na- 
tural channel, and the channels of its branches affords 
the means in the spring season, for the descent to its 
tide waters, of abundant quantities of lumber, iron, 
grain, flour and coal; thence to be transported to mar- 
ket, for the supply of the cities of the south and the 
east. 

The waters of the noble Mississippi, and its many 
branches, require but little said to prove their national 



WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 123 

value. They are so vastly extended and diffused, 
that the point of their importance will never be dis- 
puted. 

Their flowing to an aggregate of so many thousands 
of miles, through high lands and low lands, and some 
of them passing many miles through chasms of rocks, 
which form perpendicular walls on their borders 
three hundred or four hundred feet high, and yet so 
little obstructed by falls and rapids to impede their 
navigation, is an astonishing circumstance in natural 
history. And the effects of steam navigation, in over- 
coming the strength of their currents, by which so 
easy an ascending movement is attained, is, perhaps, 
equally surprising in the progress of human art and 
ingenuity. 

By inspection of a map, it will be perceived, that 
there is not a state or territory in the Union, which 
has not the advantage of a navigable outlet to the 
ocean. Seventeen states and the territory of Flo- 
rida, have a direct communication with the Atlantic; 
either by means of the ocean lining some part of their 
shores, or by some large tide river, or both. Thir- 
teen states and territories, connect immediately with 
the Ohio and Mississippi; by which their trade may 
take its direction at pleasure — eastward by the canals, 
or southward by the Mississippi, the great natural 
channel of outlet. 

The state of Vermont, is perhaps less favoured in 
this respect than eny other — its natural water course 
from lake Champlain to the ocean, being interdicted 
to our citizens by the British government: but the 
defect is now well supplied by the northern canal of 
New York, opening safe and easy means of transport 
from lake Champlain to the tides of the Hudson. 

The Michigan territory, will soon be furnished 
with a choice of channels of trade, either by the ca- 
nals forming from Cleveland on lake Erie, through 
the state, to the river Ohio — thence to pass westward 
to the Mississippi, or eastward through the Pennsyl- 



124 WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

vania canal to Philadelphia, or to take the route 
already completed through lake Erie and New 
York. 

Again, by means of the use of Long Island and Sta- 
ten Island Sounds — the river Raritan — the canal now 
forming across New Jersey — the river Delaware from 
Trenton to near Reedy Island — the canal now in ope- 
ration across the Delaware and Maryland peninsula 
— the bay of Chesapeak to the mouth of James river 
— and the Dismal Swamp canal from thence into 
North Carolina, — an internal water communication 
is opened and opening near the sea coast, from Pro- 
vidence on the confines of Massachusetts, to Albe- 
marle Sound; a distance of nearly six hundred miles; 
by which produce and merchandize may be trans- 
ported, secure from the dangers of the seas in times 
of war, should they ever again occur, and from the 
ocean storms, in the seasons of their greatest preva- 
lence. And this communication is capable of being 
extended southward through South Carolina, Georgia 
and Florida, into the gulf of Mexico, and northward 
into New Hampshire. 

On taking a view of the whole subject, the reflect- 
ing mind may well be filled with admiration of the 
bountiful providence of the Great Author of nature, 
in permitting our country to be so wonderfully con- 
stituted. A country apparently formed and fitted for 
the accommodation of a great united nation; which 
cannot be separated into fragments without great de- 
rangement of the extended plan. A nation wherein 
we would fondly cherish the hope, may be long and 
happily exemplified, before the view of the world, a 
model of republican government, conducted under 
the united principles of public order, rational civil 
liberty, and mutual interchanges of kindness and be- 
neficence. 

How pleasing the anticipation, when the imagina- 
tion is suffered to glance through future ages, and 
contemplate the progressing community of our sue- 



MOUNTAINS AND PACE OF THE COUNTRY. 125 

cessors, harmoniously improving the blessings con- 
ferred ! 

Many of the present youthful generation, may live 
to witness the state of the community, as it may pre- 
sent itself more than half a century hence. 

Let them then remember, that unless they live a 
life corresponding with the favours bestowed, the 
golden chain of correct public and private morals will 
be severed, and their successors be deprived of the 
benefit of worthy examples. 

Let them remember, that on each succeeding gene- 
ration, the duty becomes more and more imperative, 
to contribute, by a conduct wisely governed, as they 
advance in manhood, their aid, toward the expulsion 
of every grade of injustice and oppression, and the 
suppression of every thing calculated to introduce ha- 
bits of intemperance and riot: and under the influence 
of religious and moral principles, to show forth the 
genuine fruits of those principles, — universal benevo- 
lence, internal concord, and mutual good will. 



CHAPTER IIL 

MOUNTAINS AND FACE OF THE 
COUNTRY. 

A RANGE of mountains rises in Pennsylvania, 
about midway between the Atlantic ocean and lake 
Erie; which passing south-westward, nearly parallel 
with the coast, intersects Virginia; and crossing the 
west part of North Carolina, and the east part of Ten- 
nessee, terminates in Georgia and Alabama. 

This chain, bears the general name of '^ the Al- 
legheny or Apalachian Mountains," though different 
branches are called by different names; the eastern 
11* 



126 MOUNTAINS AND FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 

range bearing the name of the " Blue Ridge," and 
the western range, in Tennessee, ^^the Cumberland 
Mountains." Other ridges, in Pennsylvania and Vir- 
ginia, are called 'Uhe Tuscarora," ^*Chesnut Ridge," 
and ^^ Laurel Hill." 

Though the different ridges are of many miles con- 
tinuance, yet, as a whole, the chain is broken and ir- 
regular; one ridge ending abruptly, and another ri- 
sing, at some miles distance east, west, or south of it. 
They are in many parts lofty, rugged, rocky, and pre- 
cipitous; in other parts bearing a fertile soil, capable 
of profitable cultivation. 

The whole breadth of country occupied by the dif- 
ferent parallel ridges, exceeds in some parts the dis- 
tance of from 60 to 100 miles. They form the divi- 
ding height, between the waters passing into the At- 
lantic and those of the Mississippi. 

A chain of rugged, stupendous mountains, called 
the " Rocky mountains," is seated along the western 
part of the continent. They rise near the arctic cir- 
cle; and ranging in a south-easterly direction, nearly 
parallel with the shore of the Pacific ocean, divide 
the nominal dominions of Great Britain from the 
north-western part of the continent, claimed by the 
government of Russia. And after crossing the Mis- 
souri territory, or dividing it from the Western, as 
the geographers may choose to style it, and separating 
the waters of the Mississippi from those of the Pacific 
ocean, terminate far south, in the Mexican territory. 
There are other mountains of less extent, in different 
districts — as the Catskill in New York, Green moun- 
tain, dividing Vermont, and the White mountains in 
New Hampshire. These, however, as they appear on 
an average, nearly in the same range with the Apa- 
iachian, are, by some geographers, considered as a 
continuation of that chain. 

Beside these, there are in different sections of the 
United States, ridges of various extent, elevation, and 
declivity; which may with propriety be denominated 
mountains; and which bear the name in the districts 



MOUNTAINS AND FACE OP THE COUNTRY. 127 

in which they are respectively located; but which are, 
perhaps, not necessary to be noticed in a national point 
of view. 

The hills embosoming some rivers and smaller 
streams, rise in numerous instances, to a considerable 
elevation, and are in some parts rugged and compa- 
ratively mountainous. 

But the great breadth of country generally, from 
the Atlantic shores to the river Mississippi, is either 
an agreeable succession of hill and dale, or pleasantly 
undulating — sufficiently level for cultivation, and hav- 
ing sufficient declinations to carry off the rains which 
fall. Almost every farm being accommodated with 
an agreeable elevation, more or less commanding, 
whereon to place its mansion and surrounding ap- 
pendages. 

In some districts the surface of the soil is rough 
and stony; but yet fertile, and fitted for the purposes 
of profitable pasturage. In other parts, the bounty 
of nature appears to be more restricted, in a soil less 
capable of contributing to the luxuries of life, but still 
affording, with due industry of cultivation, all accom- 
modations justly termed necessary. A great propor- 
tion of the soil, however, viewing the country on a 
broad scale, in a national point of view, is either na- 
turally rich and fertile, or of a quality so easily sus- 
ceptible of improvement, as to be capable, with the 
industry which is the proper department of man, 
and the skill in culture which he acquires by expe- 
rience, of producing abundant supplies for a dense 
population, and a large surplusage for the use of 
cities, manufacturing districts, and foreign nations. 

The country in general, is intersected in every 
direction, at convenient distances, with larger and 
smaller streams; which offer in their courses, the ad- 
vantage of many powerful waterfalls, adapted to the 
propelling manufacturing machinery of every de- 
scription. 

Along the Atlantic coast, from the middle of New 
Jersey to Georgia, to an average breadth of fifty, sixty, 



128 MOUNTAINS AND FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 

or more miles back from the ocean, is a level coun- 
try, the general texture of the soil of which is sandy, 
or a sandy loam, on which a growth of yellow pine 
prevails to a great extent. In some parts it is rich 
and fertile; in other parts covered with swamps and 
morasses yet undrained; much of which is capable of 
being converted into profitable meadow grounds. 
Other parts, being an open sand are comparatively 
poor and barren, affording but little inducement to 
cultivation. This district bears in many parts de- 
cided evidences of having been at some remote pe- 
riod, covered by the ocean. 

Some part of the shores of the Carolinas and Geor- 
gia are lined with a range of long narrow islands, se- 
parated but short distances from the main land, by 
narrow arms of the sea. Many of these islands are 
composed of a deep and very rich soil, which upon 
cultivation produces cotton, of the most superior sta- 
ple, and commanding the highest price in the market. 
It is denominated ^'Sea-Island Cotton,'' from the 
places of its growth. 

Westward of the Mississippi, a large part of the Mis- 
souri territory, to the margin of the Rocky mountains, 
is composed of vastly extended tracts of level plains, 
void of timber. Extensive portions of those plains are 
dry, sandy, and barren; bearing some comparison to 
the great deserts of Africa. But a large proportion 
of them are very fertile, and clothed with rich natu- 
ral pasturage, and a great variety and profusion of 
beautifully flowering plants. In the spring season 
they are equal in grandeur to the finest artificial gar- 
den; and changing their livery by a continual suc- 
cession of species, their beautiful dress is continued 
through the summer. These plains, are, in the dia- 
lect of the early French settlers upon the Mississippi, 
denominated '' Prairies" — a French word, which ex- 
presses the idea of natural meadows. Over them the 
vision, unobstructed by trees of any description, can 
range without a limit, as on the unruffled surface of 
a trackless ocean. 



MOUNTAINS AND FACE OF THE COUNTRr. 129 

Tracts of prairie lands of less extent, though still 
very considerable, are found in the states of Ohio, 
Indiana, and Illinois, but particularly in the latter. 
There are even some tracts of them in New York. 
These districts, when of a medium elevation, are of 
a deep and very rich soil. They are generally co- 
vered, in their natural state, with a growth of natural 
grasses and flowering vegetables, rising to a height so 
luxuriant as to make it difficult, and in some parts 
almost impossible, to travel through them even on 
horse-back. 

For their cultivation it is only necessary to clear 
their surface by burning, in the spring season, — to 
turn over the sod by a strong plough, drawn by four 
horses or oxen — and to plant the surface newly turn- 
ed up with corn, by means of hand-hoes. With very 
little or no cultivation afterwards, the crops produced 
will be surprisingly great. As the native strong deep 
sod becomes decomposed, in the following seasons, 
so as to render it capable of being wrought in the 
usual manner of husbandry, the produce is often al- 
most beyond credence. 

Though these lands are destitute of timber, it is 
not supposed that they are naturally incapable of its 
growth; but that their present state has been pro- 
duced, and continued from age to age, by their natu- 
ral covering being annually consumed by the fires 
of the natives; in order to make room for a fresh 
growth, to supply a plentiful green pasturage for the 
buffalo, the elk, and the deer. 



130 

CHAPTER IV. 
CLIMATE AND SEASONS. 

A REGION SO widely extended as the United States, 
from north to south, and from east to west, must be 
supposed greatly to vary in climate and temperature 
of seasons; partly from changes of latitude, and partly 
from local and contingent circumstances. According- 
ly, we find a gradation of temperature, in the cold 
season of the year, from the rugged snow-clad, Cana- 
dian winter, in the extreme north, to the mild, balmy 
atmosphere of a tropical region, in the extreme south. 
Some parts of the north, however, are said to differ 
materially in the winter temperature from other parts 
of equal latitude. 

In the north, the winters begin early; and the sur- 
face of the earth is generally shrouded in snow for 
four months in succession. And when those snows 
are dissolved and pass away, the spring opens with 
more regularity of temperature and progression of ve- 
getation, than in the middle states. 

In these the winters are irregular; in some years 
abounding with heavy snows, frozen rivers, and long 
continued cold. In other years, the winters are bro- 
ken, and the weather frequently changing from cold 
to temperate, and but little snow appearing; and 
again in others, they are mild and temperate general- 
ly throughout. 

In the north, the summer days being longer than in 
the south, heat is often experienced to a high degree, 
as well as in the states more central and further south. 

In the south, snow or ice is seldom seen; and the 
frosts, when they occur, are generally so light as but 
little to injure the tender vegetable productions; and 
in Florida, the climate is suited to the tropical fruits 
of the neighboring islands. 



LARGE NATIVE ANIMALS. 131 

Rainy seasons are generally expected in spring 
and autumn; but they do not come with a regularity 
to establish any invariable rule. They sometimes oc- 
cur at different intervals in the warm periods of the 
year. 

Particular districts are sometimes afflicted with 
long intervals of parching drought; but more gene- 
rally, the earth and atmosphere, are refreshed at ac- 
ceptable times in summer, with plentiful showers of 
short duration; often accompanied with heavy thun- 
der; leaving the general state of the weather, for 
long intervals, under an unclouded atmosphere and 
serene sky. 

In the Atlantic states, the winds, prevalent in rainy- 
seasons, generally blow from some point between 
north-east and south. In clear settled weather the 
prevalent winds blow from west or north-west. West- 
ward of the Allegheny mountains the position seems 
to be reversed, except in certain cases supposed to be 
influenced by local or governing circumstances; such 
as the courses of great rivers, or the position of valleys. 



CHAPTER V. 



LARGE NATIVE ANIMALS. 

In the regions eastward of the Mississippi, the 
large native animals of the forest, which before Eu- 
ropean colonization, ranged unmolested and unas- 
sailed, except by the native hunter, with his bow and 
arrows, or his other simple methods of attack or de- 
coy, were the buffalo, the elk, the deer, the beaver, 
the otter, the bear, the wolf, and several species of 
the cat kind. 



132 LARGE NATIVE ANIMALS. 

These have generally disappeared, as the felling ot 
the forests, and the more dense population of a new 
race of inhabitants, have advanced; insomuch that at 
present, they are rarely discovered from the Atlantic 
to the Mississippi, or from the northern lakes to the 
gulf of Mexico, except in the north-western regions, 
or in some uncultivated mountainous district, or some 
remaining, extensive, or dense, forest or fastness. 

Between the Mississippi and the Rocky moun- 
tains, the large native animals, are the buffalo, the 
bison, the elk, the deer, an animal called the bighorn, 
the antelope, the beaver, the great gristly or brown 
bear, the wolf, and the goat. 

Beside these, in the vicinity of the Rocky moun- 
tains, has been discovered a race of wool-bearing ani- 
mals, sometimes called the mountain-sheep. These 
appear to be timid, fleet of foot, and not greatly 
abounding in numbers. 

The buffalo and the bison, congregate in vast mul- 
titudes, of tens of thousands; ranging over the rich 
pastures of the prairie plains at pleasure. They do 
not seem disposed to interrupt travellers, except in 
some cases, a few of the more daring of the herd may 
advance, seemingly with a view to observation, and 
a nearer acquaintance with their new visiters. 

They are constituted with such a powerful frame, 
and their skins are so thick, that before the introduc- 
tion of fire-arms among the natives, it required the 
strong arm of the most skilful Indian hunter to 
bring them to the ground with an arrow*. Their 
tongues, and some parts of their flesh, are considered 
as amongst the most delicious kinds of animal food. 

The natives, sometimes, of late years, improv!- 
dently destroy them by hundreds at a time; by a sin- 
gular stratagem, which they adopt to save themselves 
the labours of the chase, and the exertion of taking 
them singly. 

For the purpose of decoy, they choose an opportu- 
nity, when a herd is feeding near the Missouri, in 
some part where the rocky bank is one or two hundred 



LARGE NATIVE ANIMALS. 133 

feet perpendicular. They then dress one of their 
most adventurous and active men, in the skin of a 
buffalo or bison; in such manner as to represent the 
living animal as nearly as they can. 

This man, having previously selected a place of 
covert, under some projecting rock, or other secure 
defence, on the brow of the precipice, takes his sta- 
tion on the plain, between the herd and the river. A 
company of the natives then contrive, by cautious 
manoeuvring, to separate a portion of the herd from 
their companions, and to cause them to direct their 
view toward the decoy representing them. 

Having gained this point, the company behind give 
an alarm, and follow in pursuit of the herd thus sepa- 
rated: the man dressed as a decoy, at the same time 
moving on toward the precipice, and the herd follow- 
ing him, as a flock of sheep will follow any one of 
their number which happens to take the lead. 

As they approach the river, the alarm is increased 
by the company of pursuers, till the herd becomes 
stimulated to violent efibrts of haste to escape. The 
decoy suffers them to advance very near to him before 
he reaches the precipice; when, if he is sufficiently 
dexterous to throw himself into his covert, he is safe. 
If the foremost should then become alarmed at their 
danger, the heavy press of the herd behind rushes 
them unavoidably onward, till they overleap the pre- 
cipice, and the hindmost, instinctively following, the 
whole herd is precipitated upon the rocks at the bot- 
tom, and killed by the fall. 

If the decoy has, by miscalculating his distances, 
suffered the herd to approach too near him at the mo- 
ment of reaching the precipice, or is not sufficiently 
active to gain his covert at the proper juncture of 
time, he must be precipitated before them, and inevi- 
tably perish with them. 

VVhen the herd have thus fallen dead, the Indians 
take such number of their hides, and parts of their 
flesh, as they choose; leaving the residue to decay, 
or to be devoured by the numerous packs of wolves, 



134 LARGE NATIVE ANIMALS. 

and flocks of carnivorous birds, which coJlect to feast 
upon the remaining carcasses. 

The great gristly or brown bear of those regions, is 
the largest, most powerful, and most ferocious animal 
known of its name. Though the species is believed 
to be single, individuals appear under different shades 
of colour, but mostly brown or gristled. It is so bold 
and fearless in its attacks on the unassailing traveller, 
and withal so tenacious of life, even when mortally 
wounded, that it cannot be encountered without great 
danger, except by parties well armed. 

An instance of their ferocity was recorded by Cap- 
tain Lewis, when near the great falls of the Missouri, 
on his exploring tour to the Pacific, under a com- 
mission from our executive government, in the year 
1805. 

Having left his company at a stationary point, he 
had walked to some distance, upon the bank of the 
Missouri, to view the vast scene of romantic beauty 
which surrounded him; and was on his return, when 
a large brown bear discovered him, and was within 
twenty steps advancing to attack him before he per- 
ceived it. 

On discovering it, he had no resource but to run 
with all his speed. The bear, however, gained upon 
him; and was very near him when he arrived at the 
river side, and threw himself into the water. It then 
was within a few feet of him, with its mouth open, 
ready to seize him. As a last resort he turned upon 
it; intending to defend himself to the last, with his 
espontoon — a short dagger. 

When in the moment of the greatest apparent dan- 
ger, the creature, seeing his new enemy facing him, 
in an unusual element, appeared to become alarmed; 
and turning suddenly from him, it ran off with all its 
speed across the plain, till it was out of sight. Thus 
was he unexpectedly and happily relieved, at the in- 
stant of the greatest peril. 

In the vicinity of the sluggish rivers, in the level 
parts of some of the southern states, is found the alji- 



LARGE NATIVE ANIMALS. 135 

gator; a large animal of the lizard form, analogous to 
the African crocodile, if not identically the same spe- 
cies. Its habits are amphibious; as it lives part of its 
time in those torpid waters, and alternately, at its 
pleasure, a part basking on their banks. 

It is a voracious creature, ready to attack such ani- 
mals of less power as comes within its reach, for the 
purpose of supplying itself with food; and will easily 
overcome them if found in the water: or, if on the 
banks, it will generally prevail by forcing them into 
the water, where its powers and activity seem to be 
the greatest. 

The fossil remains of a species of animal, far sur- 
passing in magnitude any which have been mentioned 
in the preceding notices, have been discovered in se- 
veral parts of the United States, distant from each 
other: generally imbedded several feet beneath a sur- 
face apparently alluvial. In some cases detached 
bones have been found, and in other instances, skele- 
tons nearly or quite entire. 

To the skeleton of this animal, naturalists have 
given the name of the mammoth. So far as discovery 
has extended, it does not appear, that any of them in 
their living forms are now in existence. They must 
therefore have been the inhabitants of the forest, in 
some distant period, far beyond the memory or ra- 
tional tradition, of the aboriginal inhabitants: and 
have become extinct, from some cause, known only 
to the great Controller of events in the boundless re- 
gions of his own creation. A perfect skeleton may 
be seen in Peale's museum, in the city of Phila- 
delphia. 

The great American eagle, has its latter resort, 
chiefly, in the northern and western regions. They 
have frequently been taken of a measure exceeding 
six feet across the expanded wings. 

They were formerly, more often than at present, 
to be seen in the middle and southern states. To 
reign unmolested in solitude, seems to be more suited 



136 LARGE NATIVE ANIMALS. 

to their nature and habits, than to be found frequent- 
ing the more open regions of human habitation. 

A late notice has been published, of a somewhat 
singular recent occurrence. It is stated, that a negro 
boy, in Virginia, when in a field alone, in the autumn 
of 1831, heard an uncommon noise which he could 
not comprehend; but supposed it to resemble the 
blasts of a rushing wind, of a distant storm. On look- 
ing all round him with surprise and terror, he at 
length discovered, very high in the air over him, 
two large birds in contest with each other. 

As their mutual resistance prevented horizontal 
progressive motion, he w^atched them till they de- 
scended to the earth, very near to him; each one hav- 
ing the talons of one foot, firmly fixed in the oppo- 
site thigh of his antagonist. The boy looked on 
them with astonishment and afiright, while they con- 
tinued the battle, till they rose again to some height. 
On their second descent to the earth, he assumed 
courage — threw himself upon them — and broke the 
necks of both, while they remained locked in each 
other's talons. On carrying them to his master, they 
were found to be eagles; one measuring across the 
wings seven feet and a half, and the other nearly of 
equal dimensions. 

It is supposed they accidentally met, high in the 
atmosphere — perhaps above the region of the clouds: 
and being mutually in the spirit of war, for the sup- 
port of unrivalled dominion, joined in deadly com- 
bat, to dispute with each other the sovereignty of the 
aerial kingdom. Silly creatures! to act so much like 
some of the human race. As if there was not room 
enough in the creation for them both; and thus, bj^ 
crippling their own energies, betray each other into 
the hands of a third party, to their mutual destruction. 

The native American turkey is a noble bird, far 
surpassing our common domestic variety, both in 
stature, and in the beautiful golden and purple hues 
of its glossy and polished covering. Separating them- 



NATIVE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 137 

selves into pairs in the spring, the male and female 
head, will, by their joint careful attention, often rear 
a beautiful brood of, from fifteen to twenty-five or 
thirty in a season. 

The note of the male is imitated with great exact- 
ness by the natives; and has often been used as a de- 
coy in time of predatory war; with a view to entice 
the incautious inhabitant of the frontier cabin, wuthin 
reach of the deadly aim of the rifle of his enemy ly- 
ing in ambush. 

A notice of the numerous smaller species of animal 
nature, as well of those which play upon the surface 
of the earth, as of the beautiful variegated feathered 
tribes, is left for the records of more amplified natu- 
ral history. Suffice it to say, that they remain in 
great variety, either the sportive and pleasing tenants 
of our fields and uncultivated domains, the occupants 
of the scattered remnants of our native forests, or the 
inmates of the caverns of our rocks and mountains. 



CHAPTER VI, 

NATIVE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 

At the time of the first landing of European set- 
tlers, on the shores of this western world, the whole 
region, from the Atlantic ocean to the river Missis- 
sippi, was, with here and there perhaps a limited ex- 
ception, one vast unbroken forest; abounding in 
great variety of vegetable productions, from the tow- 
ering and majestic oak, sugar-maple, walnut, poplar, 
and pine, through every decreasing grade of strength 
and stature, to the humble grass and flowering plant. 

In the older states, detached portions of the ancient 
forests remain, on almost every farm distant from po- 
12* 



138 NATIVE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 

pulous cities. Though generally divested of the gran- 
deur of their most magnificent original ornaments, 
we may still discover, in those fragments of nature's 
wild domains, here and there remaining, a solitary 
individual, rearing its head as king of the forest, which 
may have flourished under the influence of the sum- 
mer suns, and resisted the peltings of the winter 
storms, for two hundred years before the eye of a 
white man ever beheld them. 

It is a pleasing and innocent exercise of the imagi- 
nation, to contemplate them, as the silent, unobtru- 
sive witnesses, of the sportive gambols of Indian boy- 
hood, and the sinewy boundings of the elk and the 
deer, for so long a period beyond the retrospection of 
historical record. 

In the new states, and in remote sections of some 
of the older, large portions of those forests remain in 
their native wildness. From these, abundant sup- 
plies of timber are furnished, for the use of cities and 
populous regions. And for the transport of those sup- 
plies, the different rivers and smaller streams, flowing 
through or near them, adapted principally to a de- 
scending navigation, afford abundant facilities. 

Amongst our native trees, the mulberry may claim 
a particular notice; its leaves being the appropriate 
food of the silk worm. Experience has furnished de- 
cided ground to believe, that the leaf of our native 
mulberry tree, affords the silk worm a richer food, 
and capable of producing a stronger and heavier silk, 
than the leaves of the species imported from Italy: 
and the leaves being much larger, the daily supply, 
may, when the trees are properly trained, be pro- 
cured with much less labor. 

A part of the territory of Florida, as well as small 
parts of some of the southern states, is covered with 
a species of native oak, of such superior strength, and 
durability of texture, as to adapt it peculiarly to the 
purpose of ship building. It is denominated ''Live 
Oak," from the circumstance of its leaves being per- 
petually green. And the preservation of it has been 



NATIVE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 139 

considered by the general government, of sufficient 
importance to maintain an armed vessel stationed on 
the coast, for the sole purpose of protecting it from 
lawless depredation. 

On the arrival of the early European colonists, they 
found growing on the river banks, as well as further 
inland, in great luxuriance, different species of the 
native grape vine. The cultivation of the grape has, 
however, hitherto received but little general attention. 
By experiments lately made, it has been found, that 
the culture may be pursued not only with pleasure 
but to a handsome pecuniary profit. The belt of 
country between the 38th and 41st degrees of lati- 
tude, is believed by some naturalists, to be most con- 
genial to their growth and profitable culture. But 
others consider a further extent south equally favor- 
able. Grapes grow luxuriantly in Georgia. 

Many of our native grasses, furnish excellent sup- 
plies of animal food, both green and dry; and for the 
purposes of pasturage, for the use of the grazier and 
the dairy, they far surpass in excellence and value, 
every species imported from other countries. 

In parts of the North-western territory, grows 
spontaneously, a native grain, bearing a near resem- 
blance to oats or rice; which is capable of contribu- 
ting essentially, to the means of human sustenance, 
and is gathered for that purpose. 

Our native corn and tobacco plants, are so well 
known they need scarcely be mentioned; the first 
contributing so largely, and essentially, to the sus- 
tenance of man and the animal creation, and the last 
to the profits of the planter and the merchant; though 
much more as an article of luxury, to gratify a de- 
praved appetite, than for real use. 

A great variety of our native plants are found to 
possess highly valuable medicinal qualities; and their 
uses, and important remedial powers and properties, 
are becoming every year more and more developed. 



140 



CHAPTER VII. 
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

Where the native forests have been subdued, by 
the labors of civilized man, the application of his in- 
dustry, in a diligent cultivation, has been rewarded 
with abundant stores, of every production necessary 
to his sustenance: and much to convert to the pur- 
poses of luxury, the progressive improvement of his 
domains, andforthe use of distant nations and colonies, 
in exchange for their productions of different species, 
calculated to add to his comforts, or minister to his 
luxuries or his pride. 

In the states eastward of New York, it was disco- 
vered on settlement, that much of the surface of the 
ground was rocky, and the soil better adapted to the 
production of rich pasturage, than to annual cultiva- 
tion. Hence they abound in dairies. And hence 
the exportation from those states to other places, of 
large amounts of dairy products. 

In the high latitudes of JNIaine and New Hamp- 
shire, the soil and climate, are remarkably adapted 
to the production of great quantities of the potatoe, 
which they use for animal food, for the manufacture 
of starch, and for the supply of other parts of the 
Union, where deficiencies of the article occur. 

From the great northern lakes to the northern line 
of North Carolina and Tennessee, together with the 
upland parts of those two states, much of the soil has 
been found on cultivation, to be adapted to the abun- 
dant production of wheat, rye, corn, barley, oats, 
natural and artificial grasses, hemp, and tobacco. 
Hence, beside the supply of all the inhabitants, and 
the rearing and feeding of cattle, sheep, hogs, and 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 141 

poultry, for the use of cities and the idense population 
around them, as well as our manufacturing districts, 
large quantities of some of those articles, either in 
their natural or manufactured forms, are annually ex- 
ported to foreign nations. 

Some parts of North and South Carolina and Geor- 
gia, being composed of low lands, subject to natural 
and artificial inundations, have been found to be pe- 
culiarly adapted to the culture of rice. Hence this 
article, with cedar, the natural product of their mo- 
rasses, and yellow pine, pitch, and turpentine, the 
products of the sandy district, have become the sta- 
ple exports of those regions. 

In South Carolina and the states westward from 
it, beside the partial production of corn, and other 
grain, for the support of the inhabitants, the great 
southern staple, cotton is cultivated and exported, to 
a very large annual amount. This is also a leading 
object of culture in North Carolina and Tennessee; 
and partially so in Virginia and Kentucky. 

Of latter years, the introduction of the sugar cane 
into Louisiana and the neighboring sections of Mis- 
sissippi and Alabama, and the south of Georgia, has 
also produced profitable results, in the supply of su- 
gars of the richest flavor. 

The climate of Florida, being so mild and free from 
the occurrence of frosts, oranges, lemons, and other 
tropical fruits, are cultivated in great perfection. 

The physical possibility of the occurrence of famine 
in our country, by means of a very uncommon com- 
bination of circumstances, of drought, frosts, destruc- 
tive insects, blight, and mildew, we dare not call in 
question. The negative conclusion would savor too 
much of human presumption. But viewing all natural 
circumstances as we find them, we may perhaps be 
justified in the supposition, that in the eye of reason, 
we have less cause to apprehend such an occurrence, 
than any other nation within our knowledge. 



142 AGRICULTUPtAL PRODUCTS. 

The great variety of the means of human subsist- 
ence, comprehended under our many different species 
of grain, and other vegetables named and unnamed, — 
the harvests of the different species occurring at differ- 
ent periods of the year — the unlikelihood of seasons 
of long continued drought pervading our whole terri- 
tory at once — and the circumstance, that one district 
in a plentiful season, is capable of supplying the de- 
fects of a season of drought in another — are all circum- 
stances in favor of hope; and furnish abundant cause 
of gratitude, to a bountiful Providence, calculated to 
encourage the maintenance of a conduct conformable 
to the blessings received. 

The vast, distant regions of the Missouri territory, 
being much divested of timber, and other materials 
for building and enclosures, adapted to the customs 
and necessities of civilized man, is the less likely, 
soon to become apportioned out to him, in the man- 
ner of the present United States. The imagination, 
therefore delights in contemplating on the territory, 
as the asylum and the resting place, of the ancient 
aboriginal inhabitants of the continent; and the rich 
pasturage of its unbounded plains, as the ranges of 
the bison, the buffalo, the elk, and the beaver, with 
other beautiful and interesting productions of the na- 
tive animal creation, where they may be permitted 
to retain an existence for many generations; exempli- 
fying the wisdom and beautiful variety of the works 
of our great and ever adorable Creator. 



143 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MINERAL AND GEOLOGICAL SUB- 
STANCES. 

The iron mines of the United States, have been 
long and successfully wrought, to the production of 
much wealth to their proprietors, and operators con- 
cerned, as they pass through the various operations of 
the furnace, the forge, and the rolling and slitting 
mills. They abound principall}- in Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey, jMaryland, and the northern parts of 
Virginia. Later discoveries have brought to view 
plentiful veins of ore in Vermont and in the northern 
section of New York bordering on Lake Champlain; 
and other states partake more or less of this most use- 
ful of metals: particularly Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
the higher sections of North Carolina and Georgia. 

In Pennsylvania, the ore is very abundant; the de- 
posites being found in a stony form, in the mountains, 
hills, and more level parts of their diflerent districts. 
In the level parts of New Jersey, the ore is generally 
in a granulated or earthy form, and known by the 
name of bog-ore; which, beside its deposites under 
the surface of various districts, accumulates in large 
quantities, in the ponds raised for working the fur- 
naces: from the constant attraction to each other, and 
uniting, of the minute particles of iron, suspended and 
floating in the waters by which those ponds are sup- 
plied. 

The quality of the iron of the United States, is 
very various; some ore beds producing that which is 
best adapted to the purpose of makins; all the variety 



144 MINERAL AND GEOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES. 

of castings; others to the manufacture of bar iron, of 
great strength and firmness for heavy work; and still 
others, producing metal of a fineness of texture, and 
general qualities, fitting it for the manufacture of steel, 
of the most superior character, as well as for wire- 
drawing, and the finest purposes of the artificer. 

The bituminous coal-pits of Virginia, have been 
long known and operated upon; and their produce 
exported to other states, for the use of the workers 
in iron. The bituminous mines in Pennsylvania, ap- 
pearing in many places open to view in the hilly re- 
gions westward, have been used from the earliest set- 
tlement of their neighborhood; and being so easily 
and cheaply obtained, by the mere labor of separating 
the coal from the exposed surfaces of their extensive 
masses, are a source of great accommodation to the 
iron manufacturers of Pittsburgh. 

The anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania, has 
been more recently explored; and its coal introduced, 
and continually introducing, to great advantage, for 
the purposes of fuel for warming winter apartments, 
for culinary uses, for the burning of lime, and for the 
use of steam engines, and the manufacturers of iron. 

The coal mines of Pennsylvania, are found upon 
examination, to be very abundant in their stores — suf- 
ficiently so in all reasonable calculation, to supply the 
demands of the inhabitants which may continually fol- 
low each other to draw upon them, as well for export 
as home consumption, through a very long succession 
of ages. 

The gold mines of the United States, have been 
comparatively of but recent discovery. Their re- 
gion, so far as is yet known, appears to be limited to 
a breadth of country perhaps not exceeding twenty 
or thirty miles. 

The first modern discovery was in the west of 
North Carolina, near the Yadkin river, where a lump 
was taken up, of the metal, in nearly or quite a pure 



MINERAL AND GEOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES. 145 

state, of the value of upwards of 2500 dollars. Since 
that time, discovery has extended north-eastward 
across Virginia, if not into the south-west of Pennsyl- 
vania, and south-westward, into the upper parts of 
several of the southern states. The quantity of the 
metal now obtained annually, is very considerable, 
and still each year increasing. 

In the Missouri state and territory, and in the 
north-western territory, is an extensive range of 
country, in which is imbedded, at a moderate depth 
below the surface, vast deposites of leaden ore. The 
quantity is so abundant, and the ore so rich, and 
easily obtained and separated from extraneous mix- 
tures, that all the markets to which it can yet have 
access, after being transported by boat to New Or- 
leans, are easily overstocked. The miners are then 
obliged to suspend their operations, for want of a 
market. 

A very small portion, comparatively, of the great 
lead region, having been hitherto opened, the supply 
for the use of future ages, is bej^ond calculation. 

In the neighbourhood of lake Superior, abundant 
quantities of rich copper ore, have long been known 
to exist: it having even been brought into use by the 
native inhabitants, in the formation of some of their 
ornaments, and simple articles of furniture. These 
mines may become the field of extensive operations 
in some future day. 

Other veins of copper and lead, are known to exist 
in various parts of the Union; and some of them have 
been wrought to large, and others to less advantage. 

On each side of the Schuylkill, in the vicinity of 
Philadelphia, are quarries of fine marble, of variously 
diversified shades; from which the city is furnished 
to any desired amount, for building and ornamental 
uses, and for exportation. A quarry of marble of sin- 
gular texture, and great diversity of colours, has also 
been opened on the Potomac; from which the public 
13 



146 MINERAL AND GEOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES. 

buildings in the city of Washington, receive much 
of their ornamental decorations. Marble of great 
beauty is also plentiful in Vermont, and largely ma- 
nufactured. It also prevails in some parts of other 
states, eastward and westward. 

Limestone, of the best quality, exists in unbounded 
quantities, in many of the states; by which the 
builder is furnished with cement, the farmer with 
manure, and the chemist with the means of obtain- 
ing many valuable products. 

To the naturalist and mineralogist, the United 
States furnish an interesting field of investigation, 
where inquiry is yet but in its infancy; though a 
great variety of the different mineral productions, 
and many specimens of those kinds of stones, which 
are considered valuable in the cabinets of the curi- 
ous, have been collected. 

A notice of our salt mines is reserved for a distinct 
chapter. 

Besides the deposites of the bones of the mam- 
moth, noticed under another head, there have been 
discovered, in many situations, from the low lands 
receding from the ocean, even to near the summits of 
many of our mountains, bones and shells evidently of 
marine origin. In some parts, fifty miles from the 
sea, on occasionally digging for water, bones have 
been taken up in a petrified state, from the depth of 
more than sixty feet. 

Circumstances of a similar character, have also 
been noticed in various parts, westward of the Al- 
leghany mountains. 

In the middle part of New Jersey, bordering on 
Pennsylvania, on digging a well through a deep stra- 
tum, evidently of a marine deposite, a living toad 
was discovered, at the depth of more than forty feet 
below the surface, lodged in a cavity just sufficient to 
contain it. 

The creature, after exerting a feeble activity, and 
receiving the effects of an atmosphere, from which it 



MINERAL AND GEOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES. 147 

must have been excluded for a period of many ages, 
soon expired. 

The circumstance of a creature, remaining so long 
in the possession of vital powers, in such a situation, 
might, perhaps, well be considered as of doubtful 
credit, had we not so many instances on record of 
undisputed authority, of the toad being found living 
in similar cavities, in the hearts of massive solid 
rocks, many feet within their surface. A proof, that 
the toad is so peculiarly constituted, as to be capable 
of sustaining life in a different manner from most 
other animals, excluded from a supply of atmosphe- 
ric air.* 

Many circumstances might be cited, furnishing 
conclusive evidence, that this our western hemi- 
sphere, has^ at some distant, unknown period, by the 

* A modern geologist, in Europe, it appears, has introduced new 
doubts, of the reality of facts relied on for trutli, relative to the long 
protracted living existence of toads, in such secluded situations. But 
his reasoning and experiments, do not appear to have embraced all the 
necessary circumstances. It is well understood, that the toad, like the 
tortoise, and some other animals, after spending the summer in acti- 
vity in the open atmosphere, retires on the approach of winter, to its 
seclusion; where it remains in a state of torpor, deprived of activity; 
either buried in the earth, or closed up in some narrow cavity, till the 
influence of spring penetrates its retreat, and by its invigorating ef- 
fects, gradually inspires the animal with renewed life, and inclination 
to move; by which it in time effects its own release. Now it must be 
evident, that, to prepare it for its periodical changes, important changes 
in its constitution or vital functions, are wisely provided for, by the au- 
thor of its nature, to adapt it to its necessary modes and habits of ex- 
istence. If, then, after it had imbedded itself in its winter retreat, a 
superincumbent iDody of matter, had become suddenly placed over it, 
to a great depth, by some operation of nature to us unknown, inas- 
much as the influence of a spring atmosphere, penetrating to the depth 
of its retreat, was necessary to its renewed action, and the recovery of 
its summer functions, and as the superincumbent matter had pre- 
vented this effect, and been the means of retaining an unchanging 
temperature in its habitation, can any conclusive reason be assigned, 
why, thus cut off from all influence from without, it should not as well 
continue to sleep on, in its state of complete torpor, 5000 years, as five 
months? But, in Professor Buckland's experiments, we are left to in- 
fer, that he had subjected the toads to them, while in their summer 
habitudes, and from his results thus obtained, had too hastily drawn 
his conclusions, against the truth of well attested facts. 



148 MINERAL AND GEOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES. 

power of some stupendous force, operating either in- 
ternally or externally, been subjected to a great revo- 
lution and transformation. 

Regions once occupied by the mighty ocean, have 
been converted into plains and mountains, high and 
dry; and situations where once sported the monsters 
of the great deep, have become the habitations of 
man, furnished by the hand of Almighty Power, with 
every thing requisite to his accommodation. On the 
other hand, there are some evidences on which to 
ground an opinion, that regions once habitable, have 
become involved in the ocean. 

On contemplating upon such circumstances, con- 
jecture is often bewildered, and the imagination ab- 
sorbed in astonishment. 

We may resort to the opinions of the visionary 
speculator, or trace the theories of the scientific geo- 
logist, and still remain unsatisfied. 

We have no ancient records, to guide our re- 
searches, or govern our inferences, except the scrip- 
tural account of a mighty overwhelming general de- 
luge; when "the windows of heaven were opened, 
and the fountains of the great deep were broken up." 

It remains then for us, to occupy the habitations 
provided for us, with reverence and gratitude, to the 
Almighty Disposer of events — diligently aiming to 
fulfil all the duties assigned us, in this state of proba- 
tion, and referring all the mysterious operations of vi- 
sible nature, to his all-wise direction, who governeth 
the worlds of his own creation, according to the in- 
scrutable purposes of his own will. 



149 



CHAPTER IX. 



MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 

To give a full view of the different species of manu-^ 
factures, which have within the last few years, been 
successfully produced in the United States, but which 
were formerly imported from Great Britain and other 
foreign places, would occupy a volume. 

A brief notice only, of this, as of subjects under 
other heads, is here intended; that the youth, or adult 
reader, who has not heretofore taken any extensive 
view of the subject, may, by a concise introduction, 
be induced to extend his observations and reflections 
at pleasure. 

A subject highly important to the general prosper- 
ity and independence of our country; and present- 
ing a wide field, for the exercise of native genius and 
enterprise; either in pursuit of objects of manufacture 
already familiar, or, in striking out new paths, to fa- 
cilitate, and bring to perfection, branches of work- 
manship hitherto but little, if at all, attempted. 

A catalogue of the articles formerly imported, 
either wholly or principally, would comprehend al- 
most the whole list of the conveniences and comforts 
of life; excepting the articles of common food, the 
produce of common tillage; and the buildings and 
improvements immediately attached to the soil. 

The aggregate value of manufactures, which are 
now fabricated amongst ourselves, exclusive of the 
produce of those extensive systematical establish- 
ments, which excite public attention, would amount 
tomany millions of dollars annually; though the seats 
of their production, are distributed about in almost 
13* 



150 MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 

every quarter, here a little and there a little, claim- 
ing but little, or transient, general notice. 

Were we to pass through some parts of our cities, 
and our manufacturing villages, and to visit our more 
private establishments, in many parts of the country, 
with a view to observation, sufficient evidence would 
appear to prove, that there are few or none of the 
species of manufacture necesssary to the comfort of 
the inhabitants of our whole territory, which, as a 
nation, we are not capable of producing, at prices suf- 
♦ficiently low to satisfy all reasonable expectation. 

B-ut, for our complete success, a universal disposi- 
tion ought to be maintained, to encourage, and sup- 
port, those branches of manufacture which are yet in 
their infancy; till they become so fully established, 
as to withstand the shocks which have sometimes 
heretofore been received, from the insidious designs 
of the merchants and manufacturers of other nations, 
pouring in upon us abundant quantities of their pro- 
ducts of inferior quality, though fair in appearance; 
for the purpose of overwhelming our infant manufac- 
tories, by a reduction of prices, to a point which no 
nation could long sustain, without ruinous losses, and 
the depression of their labourers, by reduction of 
their just wages, to the ranks of abject poverty, and 
servile dependance and wretchedness. 

The means are various by which manufacturing na- 
tions, in possession of unbounded capital, may injuri- 
ously affect other nations, which possess equal advan- 
tages for production, but in which the manufacturing 
interest may be yet in a state of comparative infancy. 
To describe them all would exceed our plan and in- 
tention. But, as a partial illustration of the means 
already hinted at, we will offer a few additional re- 
marks. 

In the United States, the construction and use of 
manufacturing machinery, are as well understood by 
many of our ingenious citizens as they are in any 
other nation. 



MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 151 

If, even, the common prices of labour should be a 
little higher here than in Europe, the comparative 
fewness of hands employed in some species of manu- 
factures, where machinery is extensively used, would 
render any excess of wages of little consequence, and 
less than the expenses of transporting raw materials 
from this country, — where some kinds of them are 
produced in abundance*— to Europe, — where the same 
kinds do not grow — passing them from hand to hand, 
through various owners, and bringing the manufac- 
tured goods back to us. 

It is therefore clear, that the United States can ma- 
nufacture many of the common species of goods, 
cheaper than they can be in any other way supplied, 
by a fair and regular trade. 

But foreign manufacturers, in possession of im- 
mense capitals, by reducing the wages of their labour- 
ers, to the lowest rate possible to preserve their mor- 
tal existence, would, in order to dispose of their sur- 
plus inferior stock at any price, or calculating on a 
certain loss for the present, from the prospect of fu- 
ture advantage, be able, without some efficient check, 
to send to the United States, overwhelming quanti- 
ties of those manufactures, to be disposed of at auc- 
tion, for the express purpose of injuring our manu- 
facturers, and bringing them under discouragement 
and uncertainty, by sales much reduced; in order 
that by thus inducing them to abandon their pursuits, 
the market may in future be open, to receive foreign 
goods, at prices sufficiently advanced, amply to com- 
pensate the foreign manufacturer for his present sa- 
crifices. 

Here then may be understood by youth, what is 
meant by the term "protection," as applied to our 
manufacturing interests. It means nothing more than 
the institution and support by Congress, of a rate of 
duties on imported articles which are capable of being 
manufactured to perfection and advantage in this coun- 
try, sufficient to counteract foreign designs, until our 
manufactures may become so firmly established as to 



152 MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 

be proof against them. By such an intervention of 
the government, which should remain undisturbed 
by the contending fallacious arguments of selfish, 
shallow politicians, the public confidence would be- 
come settled, a sufficient number of men of capital 
would engage in the business, to reduce by competi- 
tion, the prices of manufactured goods to the lowest 
rates of reasonable profit; and thus the whole Union 
would be supplied, at regular prices — at the cheapest 
rates — and with goods of such excellent qualities, as 
should supersede all importations of many articles, 
and be eventually completely satisfactory to every 
portion of the Union, which should be uninfluenced 
by unworthy considerations. 

But few of our agricultural products are necessary 
to other nations, except two or three species, princi- 
pally the produce of some of the southern states. 

For the production of a full sufficiency of food, for 
men and animals, in our whole national community, 
it is only necessary that a part of our population 
should be employed. How unwise then, would be 
the conduct of that nation, which, for want of reason- 
able restraints upon foreign insidious designs, should 
permit the remaining part, to pass their time in use- 
less idleness; depending upon other nations for cloth- 
ing, and other necessary and comfortable accommo- 
dations; for which, if obtained upon that plan, we 
must be involved in constantly accumulating debts, 
without the means of payment : while a part of the 
population thus idle, or at bestunprofitably employed, 
could, if properly encouraged, furnish all which our 
wants require, and would receive much of the pro- 
duce of agricultural industry in exchange. 

By this plan of mutual dependance, for the supply 
of our mutual wants, would be established a general 
connexion of mutual interest, and mutual extensive 

therhood, so essential to the happiness and inde- 
pendence of a great nation. 

And yet some of our statesmen and politicians, for 
reasons best known to themselves, choose continual])* 



MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 153 

to reiterate the idle charge which has been a thou- 
sand times refuted, by the clearest and most unanswer- 
able arguments, that '' the system of encouraging our 
manufactures in their incipient state, by any mea- 
sures of public protection, is only a partial and unjust 
mode of taxing the many for the benefit of a few." 

How unworthy! how contracted! how cruelly self- 
ish! how suicidal! would be the motives and the po- 
licy, of any portion of the population of our Union, 
should such arguments be made to prevail, against a 
system, the great general advantages of which are so 
clearly and demonstrably evident; because of any sup- 
posed temporary disadvantage to themselves. And 
such disadvantage even now perhaps but merely the- 
oretical. 

It would resemble a large family, the sons of one 
father, who, possessing each his separate portion of a 
great paternal inheritance, should agree upon a sys- 
tem of measures designed for the general good; but 
who afterward, should admit and cherish among them- 
selves, the spirit of jealousy and envy, from a suppo- 
sition that the occupations of one or more of the fa- 
mily, and the application of their industry, had become 
more profitable than that of others; and the discon- 
tented members of the family, though possessing in 
reality, equal, or superior natural advantages, with 
equal liberty and power to improve them, should 
blindly or enviously, withdraw their confidence and 
fraternal attachment, from the members thus industri- 
ously employed in promoting the general good and 
mutual prosperity of the whole family; and seek to 
transfer their friendship and intimate connexion to 
far distant strangers, not bound to them by similar 
ties of mutual brotherhood. 

In the manufacture of iron wares, enterprising in- 
dividuals, have in many cases turned their attention 
to single branches; by which circumstance, greater 
perfection of workmanship, as well as despatch in 
production, is attained, than when the attention is 



154 MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 

divided amongst numerous objects and forms of work- 
manship. 

Hence, many of the well finished, as well as 
cheaper articles, which we now see arranged on the 
shelves of the hardware merchants, assorted with 
those yet imported, are of American manufacture. 
And many things of the first necessity, of superior 
quality, and of almost unlimited demand, are pro- 
duced at so cheap a rate, as to admit but little dread 
of foreign competition, and to supersede entirely the 
necessity of importation. 

The amount of labour bestowed, capital employed, 
and workmanship produced, in the manufacture of 
steam engines, and other labour saving machinery, of 
every description now used in the United States, 
would present an astonishing aggregate. Yet this 
amount is rapidly increasing every year. 

In the manufactures of wood, in the forms of house- 
hold furniture, travelling carriages, and many other 
species of workmanship, the productions of our inge- 
nious mechanics, would, in point of elegance, neat- 
ness, usefulness, and durability, admit of a compari- 
son decidedly favourable, with similar products of 
any nation. 

The manufactures of cotton, of almost every form 
and quality of fabric, have attained to a great degree 
of perfection. The business being now conducted on 
a large systematical scale, in many establishments in 
different parts of the Union; insomuch, that many 
thousands of bales of the raw material — the produce 
of the southern states — find a ready market in the 
eastern and middle. And the same material, in its 
diversified manufactured forms, better, and cheaper, 
on a fair comparison of quality and price, than simi- 
lar articles can be imported for from any other coun- 
try, in a fair and regular trade, finds its way back to 
the southern states, and is distributed into every part 
of the Union. 

The wise and venerable Dr. Franklin, exemplified 
in his day, great clearness of judgment and foresight, 



MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 155 

on the subject of supplying ourselves, by our own 
national industry, with the manufactures necessary to 
our comfort. He supported the principle by his own 
example in the last years of his highly useful life. 
He is, perhaps, as justly entitled to the name of 'Hhe 
father of^' that which is now denominated 'Hhe Ame- 
rican system," as any other eminent citizen, to whom 
the name may have been since applied. His princi- 
ples on this great national head were completely 
settled. 

Viewing our nation as an undivided whole, his 
comprehensive mind, soared far above the influence 
of petty sectional considerations and jealousies. He 
saw^, with the keen penetration of an experienced 
sage, that our only course to wealth, independence, 
and national respect, was that of supplying our own 
national wants by our own industry. He saw that 
the different kinds and degrees of advantage peculiarly 
possessed by portions of our territory were capable of 
becoming equalized, by the due application of the requi- 
site means. He saw that those means would depend 
much upon a system of mutual interchanges. He saw 
that the mines, and the mountain pastures, of the 
north, — the rich products of general agriculture, in 
the middle regions, — and the luxuriant growths, upon 
the plains of the favoured south, — were capable of af- 
fording the supplies upon w^hich those mutual inter- 
changes should depend. That upon these, the inge- 
nuity, and industry, of the population in the more 
rugged and less productive districts, could be brought 
to operate, in the plentiful production of manufac- 
tures. That thus, the Union w^ould become like the 
works of a well regulated machine; every lever, 
spring, and spur-wheel, performing its part, in unison 
with its fellow members of the great whole; where 
the operation of each distinct part and principle, 
would infallibly contribute to the orderly movements 
of the mighty machine. And he saw, that for the 
full development of the plan, time, patience, and mu- 
tual forbearance, would be required, to exemplify 



1S6 MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 

and display it, to minds less comprehensive than 
his own. 

In his day the manufacture of woollen cloth had 
been but little if at all attempted on any extensive 
systematical scale; but was a part of the concern of 
the prudent farmer's family, where the hand cards 
and the common spinning-wheel, were the instru- 
ments of cheerful employment in the proper annual 
season. 

It is within the knowledge of the author of this vo- 
lume, that the doctor, in his latter years, applied to a 
friend of his, who occasionally visited him, though 
resident fifty miles distant from Philadelphia, for ad- 
vice and aid, in procuring the manufacture of cloth, 
for his own wearing. That friend transferred his 
commission to a worthy woman in his neighbour- 
hood, who, superadded to all the amiable qualities of 
the honoured head of a happy family in rural life, 
possessed eminent skill in domestic manufactures. 

The improvement of wool, by the introduction of 
foreign species of sheep had not then become com- 
mon. She, therefore, had recourse to the choicest 
fleeces of her husband's native flocks; and in due 
time, by the aid of a weaver and a fuller in her neigh- 
bourhood, she completed her engagement to the doc- 
tor's entire satisfaction. If the cloth was not as finely 
finished as it might have been from the hands of a 
British clothier, it was, for decency and comfort, 
every thing he desired; and was beside, the means of 
sustaining his principles, and holding up his illustri- 
ous example. And the same worthy female remained 
to be his secondary agent as long as his wants required 
her aid. 

Since that time the manufactures of broad cloths, 
cassimeres, flannels, and other products of wool, as 
well as a numerous variety of valuable fabrics, com- 
posed of mixtures of wool and cotton, are efiiciently 
conducted in various districts: and to a considerable 
extent, compared with the infancy of their establish- 



MANUFACTURES IN GENERAL. 157 

merit, and the insufficiency of encouragement and pro- 
tection received. 

The qualities of the goods, and costs of fabrication, 
demonstrate to a certainty, the capacity of our coun- 
try, to furnish itself in due time, with every variety 
of woollen goods, on advantageous terms; and thus to 
supersede forever, the necessity of a dependance on 
other nations, for those indispensable agents of warmth 
and comfort. 

Thus, on due reflection, we may perceive the pre- 
eminent advantages enjoyed by the United States as 
a nation. 

Our diversity of quality and circumstances of soil 
and climate, adapted to the abundant production of 
the necessaries and comforts of life — the northern and 
eastern States capable of furnishing adequate supplies 
of wool, for our winter coverings — the south equally 
fertile in the production of cotton, for the use of our 
temperate seasons and climates — the middle, and 
other States, abounding in the means of establishing 
an extensive culture of silk — some of the States, af- 
fording resources for an incalculable supply of iron 
and mineral coal — our abundant accommodation with 
water-falls, for the propelling of manufacturing ma- 
chinery — our free government, fostering and promo- 
ting the expansion of genius, and the display of en- 
terprise in our citizens, which tend so eminently to 
the improvement of the useful arts — our wide separa- 
tion of locality, from the ever jarring and distracting 
commotions of European nations — these, with many 
other circumstances, seem to present us as a kind of 
anomaly, in comparison with the communities of our 
fellow men, in other regions of the earth. 

We have, therefore, as a nation, abundant cause to 
aspire after and cherish, the spirit of gratitude to the 
all-bountiful Author of nature, for his numberless 
gifts and blessings: and to maintain the exercise of 
mutual benevolence and brotherly kindness toward 
each other, as the joint partakers of his providential 
favors. Cultivating those dispositions, the different 
14 



158 SALT MINES AND MANUFACTORIES. 

sections of our widely spread population, would har- 
moniously aim, in a disinterested spirit of conciliation, 
to equalize sectional advantages, and to remove all na- 
tional evils, which may now be seen to hang over us 
as national curses. 

Thus might we expect the advancement of public 
virtue to go hand in hand with a continued national 
prosperity; and the blessings of Heaven to descend 
on our efforts, to fulfil the laws of mercy, justice, and 
universal benevolence. 

The North and the South, the East and the West, 
would then, cordially reciprocate the benefits each is 
capable of conferring on each; and thus maintain a 
chain of friendship, and mutual alliance, which no- 
thing but the admission of groundless sectional jea- 
lousies, and the growth and prevalence of sentiments 
and dispositions, the reverse, and the bane, of public 
and private virtue, could ever be able to rend asunder. 



CHAPTER X. 

SALT MINES AND MANUFAC- 
TORIES. 

The article of salt, was formerly procured altoge- 
ther from Great Britain and other foreign places. — 
Much is still imported; because the consumption is 
very great. But, for many years past, manufactories 
of salt, have been carried on in different parts along 
the sea coast. The sea water, which is always highly 
impregnated with salt, is admitted into shallow re- 
ceivers, representing small lakes; when, by excluding 
a fresh accession of water, and allowing the rays of 
the sun to operate on the surface, evaporation sepa- 
rates the watery parts, and leaves the salt in a concrete 



SALT MINES AND MANUFACTORIES. 159 

form at the bottom; from whence it is collected, and 
prepared for market. 

A large projiortion, however, of the salt used in 
the interior of several of the States, is now procured 
from another source. 

After the settlement of the western parts of New- 
York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and of the States 
of Kentucky and Ohio, there were springs discovered, 
the water of which appeared to be impregnated with 
salt. A salt state of the water was also discovered 
in some places, by the wild animals resorting from 
considerable distances, to lick the earth, at certain 
low grounds where water had issued out, and had 
become dried up by the sun; leaving the soil in the 
places where it had lain, combined with a portion of 
salt: which the animals would swallow, from a relish 
which nature had given them for salt, as a preserva- 
tive of their health. These places of resort of the 
animals, are called ^^ Licks," or '' Salt Licks." 

Where evidences of salt have thus appeared, by 
the discovery of licks or springs, the water has some- 
times been small in quantity, and not very strongly 
impregnated. Resort has, in these cases, been some- 
times had to deep boring in the ground; which has 
been continued in some places to a depth of from 500 
to 700 feet; when fine springs of water, strongly im- 
pregnated, have been obtained. The water rising to 
near the surface when a passage is opened for it by 
the boring instrument. 

Thus, in some cases by collecting the water sup- 
plied by natural springs, and in others by boring, 
plentiful supplies of salt water have been obtained, 
for the constant operation of manufactories; which 
produce quantities of the article to an astonishing an- 
nual amount — sufficient to serve all the regions round 
them, and large quantities to transport to other parts 
of the Union. 

The work of evaporation, has commonly heretofore 
been performed, at those manufactories, by boiling the 
water in broad shallow iron vessels; from the surfaces 



160 SALT MINES AND MANUFACTORIES. 

of which, evaporation is rapidly effected. And in 
places where wood is abundant, and it is desirable to 
clear the ground for cultivation, or where bituminous 
coal is in plenty, the article of fuel is of but small pe- 
cuniary consideration. Latterly, however, the mode 
of evaporation by the rays of the sun, as practiced on 
the sea coast, has at some of the manufactories, been 
largely adopted; by means of many broad, shallow 
receivers, constructed for the purpose. 

The work of boring, is accomplished by great labor, 
as it is often continued to a great depth, through solid 
rocks; and one adventure, has sometimes required a 
year or two of daily application, to arrive at the ne- 
cessary depth. It can only be effected by having 
joints in the boring instrument, so as continually to 
attach an additional part, as the last becomes nearly 
sunk to the surface of the earth. 

The most rational conjecture respecting the cause 
of saltness in the water, seems to be, that on arriving 
at so great depth, a near approach is made to large 
masses of mineral salt, deposited far below the sur- 
face; which is continually dissolving in the water 
coming in contact with it; and is thus borne up, in its 
dissolved state, to the surface of the earth. 

It appears from the accounts of travellers, that beds 
of mineral salt, abound in some parts of the Missouri 
territory. Thus it would seem, that the substances 
necessary to the health and convenience of man and 
animals, are placed within their power, by distribu- 
tion into the various regions prepared for their habi- 
tation. 



161 

CHAPTER XL 
SUGAR MANUFACTORIES. 

The manufacture of sugar from the sap of the su- 
gar maple, though not heretofore carried to an extent 
to spare much from the regions of its production, is 
deserving of notice. Some have calculated, that the 
business might be conducted on a scale sufficiently 
extended, to supply a considerable portion of the 
Union. 

Loaf sugar, carefully refined, from the produce of 
the maple, is superlatively white, pure, and perfect. 

The trees abound in Vermont — in the newly settled 
parts of New York — in the northern and western 
parts of Pennsylvania — in the States north-west of 
the Ohio — in Kentucky — and in other places. 

If those who settle new lands on which the trees 
grow in plenty, would be careful to preserve a suffi- 
cient proportion of them, and skilfully manage the 
mode of tapping them, a yearly supply of sugar might 
be obtained sufficient to obviate the necessity of con- 
veying to those parts the imported article. 

The manner of conducting the business of sugar 
making in those places has been very simple. The 
trees are tapped by boring shallow auger holes in 
them, at a convenient distance from the ground. In 
the auger holes are inserted tubes of elder, or some 
other simple material. Where tlie people are not 
furnished with a sufficient number of vessels, to re- 
ceive the sap as it runs from the trees, they supply 
the deficiency by troughs, formed by hollowing blocks 
of wood. 

The season for manufacturing, is the first return of 
warm weather in the spring; when the sap will run 
from the trees, in small but lively streams. The fa- 
milies are then employed for a few days, young and 
14* 



162 SUGAR MANUFACTORIES. 

old; and the scene becomes quite lively and sportive. 
The shortness of the duration of the season of sap- 
running, preventing weariness from satiety, it is made 
rather a matter of cheerful amusement than serious 
business. 

The boiler is suspended in a convenient central 
spot, fuel provided in plenty, and the family engaged 
in attention to the various parts of the concern, inclu- 
ding the conveyance of the sap from the surrounding 
trees to the place of boiling, when the watery particles 
are evaporated, and the sugar becomes granulated in 
the bottom of the boiler. 

By this simple process, many families, have in a 
very few days, supplied themselves with hundreds 
of pounds weight of sugar in a season. Instances are 
not solitary, where frugal and industrious families, 
have made in a season 3000 pounds weight. 

The manufacture of sugar in the cane-growing dis- 
tricts, in the south, is in some respects a very differ- 
ent business, and its operations regularly systema- 
tized. The business there, is prolonged for months, 
between the time the cane stalk attains a sufficient 
degree of ripeness and the approach of winter. 

The labour of cutting the cane, and carrying it to 
the place of manufacturing, is, in large plantations, 
very great, and employs many labourers. After the 
cane is thus collected, it is passed through mills, 
constructed of iron rollers pressing closely together. 
By this process, the stalk is completely crushed, and 
the sap pressed out. After the sap is received from 
the mills, the process of boiling is conducted on the 
principle before described, though on a large and sys- 
tematic scale. 

Of late, however, the operation is performed in 
some establishments, in a much more cleanly, econo- 
mical, and perfect manner, by the aid of heat, pro- 
cured by steam. And it is said that the produce in 
sugar and molasses, is very materially increased in 
quantity, as well as improved in quality, by this 
newly adopted mode of operation. 



163 



CHAPTER XII. 



MANUFACTURES OF POTASH. 

Potash is a concrete substance, highly corrosive; 
which is obtained from wood ashes, by lixiviation, 
and by evaporating the watery particles of the ley, by 
boiling in broad iron kettles. 

It is much used in the process of bleaching cloths, 
of hemp, flax, and cotton. It is an important article 
of export trade; particularly from New York and the 
eastern towns; large quantities of it being annually 
shipped, for the use of European manufacturers. It 
is also used in many operations of chemistry, and in 
the processes of preparing articles of medicine. In 
its further refined state, it is called pearl-ash. 

The manufacture of it, is carried on in the north- 
ern parts of the United States, in situations where it 
is desirable to clear the ground for tillage — where 
timber is in profusion — and where the species natu- 
rally growing, are not profitable for lumber, or the 
places are so distant from water carriage, that it 
would not in that form, pay the expenses of a trans- 
port to market. 

In these cases the timber is cut down in large 
quantities, rolled together, and burned. The ashes 
are then collected, placed in large tubs, and a suffi- 
cient quantity of water added to extract the valuable 
part, in a fluid state, from the gross residue. After 
the process of evaporation and concretion is finished, 
it is put in barrels, made air tight, and thus sent to 
market, in the form of a hard solid substance. In this 
state, if freely handled with the bare hand, it would 
very soon corrode the skin, and injure the flesh be- 
neath. If long exposed to the air it assumes a liquid 
form by uniting with the moisture of the atmosphere, 
for which it has a strong and constant attraction. 



164 



CHAPTER XIII. 



CORPORATIONS. 

The term corporation, is derived from the Latin 
word corpus, signifying a body. It applies to those 
institutions or portions of the community, where a 
number of persons, uniting for a common purpose, 
are, by a special act of legislation, constituted a body 
corporate. 

With respect to the special purposes intended, the 
company becomes, under its specific name and title, 
conferred on it by the act of legislation, as one person, 
or body: capable of transacting all its business, of re- 
covering its debts, or legally defending its rights 
against aggression, as if it were an individual man. 

Corporations are of various kinds, and instituted 
for various purposes. Their names and titles, are 
such as are supposed to be most expressive of their 
design, as previously agreed upon by the companies, 
or portions of the community, who petition the legis- 
latures for the acts of incorporation. 

The inhabitants of cities become corporate bodies, 
by the legislative acts which create, define, and se- 
cure their privileges. And under their legal name 
thus acquired, all their business and transactions 
must be conducted. Such for instance, as ''The 
Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of Philadelphia.'' 
At the same time, every inhabitant of the city, is 
equally interested with any officer representing them, 
in the acts and doings taking place under their cor- 
porate powers. 

A city corporation, has generally conferred upon 
it, a power to institute a municipal government with- 
in itself: to establish laws and regulations for the pre- 



CORPORATIONS. 165 

servation of morality and public order; and to punish 
offenders by fines and imprisonment. Provided al- 
ways, that its laws and regulations, shall not be in- 
consistent with the laws of the state, or of the United 
States. 

The mayor, being the chief executive officer of a 
city corporation, the courts of judicature, held for 
the trial of offenders against the municipal laws, are 
commonly called mayor's courts; though another of- 
ficer, called the recorder, is capable of presiding in 
these courts, in place of the mayor, on occasions of 
his absence. The powers of the corporation, extend 
to the regulation, and direction in general, of all the 
public municipal concerns of the city. 

The magistrates associated with the mayor, in the 
executive department of a city corporation, are called 
aldermen. A term compounded in ancient usage, 
from ^'elder,'^ and "man," — equivalent, perhaps, to 
the idea of a man who has arrived to a ripeness of 
age and understanding, to qualify him for an office in 
the government of the city. At present, the office 
and duties of an alderman in a city, differ but little 
from those of a justice of the peace in the common 
departments of the republic. 

The inhabitants of boroughs are also corporate bo- 
dies, which are commonly represented by what is 
called a board of burgesses. Borough corporations 
are generally composed of smaller sections of the com- 
munity, resident in smaller towns, and their powers 
are more limited: being confined to such objects as 
immediately concern the well ordering of the public 
affairs of the place, without the power of making laws 
for the punishment of offences, except by small fines, 
or temporary disabilities, confined to, and founded 
on, delinquencies, relating to their own local regula- 
tions. Their courts of judicature, for the trial of of- 
fences against the laws of morality and justice, are 
the same with the counties in which they are situated. 

Many other corporations exist in the community. 
Banking and insurance companies are corporate bo- 



166 CORPORATIONS. 

dies. Their powers are granted by legislatures, for 
the purpose of enabling them to conduct their busi- 
ness with legal propriety, as the business of a single 
person. 

Other companies are sometimes incorporated, for 
the purpose of conducting with efficiency, large con- 
cerns, in which, to insure success, it is necessary for 
many to unite their funds and their energies. 

All such as these, are supposed to be public bene- 
fits, so far as they contribute to the general prosperity 
of the community; at the same time that they are in- 
stituted, with a view to the private emolument and 
convenience of the company obtaining the act of in- 
corporation, by legalizing a name, under which they 
may recover debts, and make contracts, as one man. 

The genius and policy of our republican govern- 
ments, do not, however, favour the creation of a 
great number of corporations in the community, de- 
signed as the means of accumulating wealth; lest they 
should grow into monopolies of business, in the hands 
of powerful companies, to the detriment of the inte- 
rests of individual citizens, who may desire to pursue 
similar objects. 

Corporations of this description, are therefore ge- 
nerally confined to a limited number of years; in or- 
der that if abuses should be found to grow out of 
them, they may be checked, by the expiration of the 
charters. But, if they appear to have been conducted 
with justice and propriety, they are often renewed 
for another term of years, by a new act of legislation. 

The charter of a corporation is the parchment, or 
paper, upon which is written down, or recorded, the 
peculiar corporate rights, liberties, and privileges, 
conferred by law upon it; as the coasts of an ocean, 
or shoals of a bay, are marked upon a chart, for the 
guidance of seamen. 

Some centuries before the discovery of America, 
when our predecessors were, in a national point of 
view, blended with the population of England, the 
subject of just government was less perfectly under- 



CORPORATIONS. 167 

stood than at present. The kings were wont to as- 
sume arbitrary powers; and to enforce their will in 
government, as they found opportunities through the 
servile compliance of a sufficient portion of their 
subjects. 

Hence, the just limits, between the rights of the 
kings as heads of the nation, and the rights of the 
different ranks of their subjects, seem to have retained 
the character of a kind of verbal, disputable, supposi- 
tious, without any clear, written definitions; and dis- 
putes and contentions, from time to time arose, ac- 
cording as the different powers of the nation acquired 
alternately, any new degree of ascendency. 

At length, when a suitable opportunity presented, 
arising from the peculiar circumstances, arbitrary 
principles, and daring, reckless, conduct of king John, 
the nobility amongst his subjects, having obtained a 
temporary triumph, compelled him to agree to a 
written code, in which was stated the rights of the 
king, and the rights of the different ranks of his sub- 
jects; to remain a law, binding on future ages, and 
put an end to the corroding disputes, which had be- 
fore agitated the nation. 

This instrument was called ''magna charta," or the 
''great charter of England." 

Though several of the succeeding monarchs at- 
tempted innovations, they were, from time to time, 
obliged to retract; and the great charter was renew- 
edly confirmed with improvements, and additional 
rights secured to the people. 

This instrument is preserved with the greatest 
care and jealousy to the present day, as the great bul- 
wark of English liberty; and is the foundation of the 
boasted liberty of the subjects of Great Britain, in 
comparison with the vassalage of the subjects of many 
other European governments. 

It became customary with the arbitrary kings and 
conquerors of England, in those ruder ages, to grant 
charters, conferring peculiar privileges of a minor and 



168 CORPORATIONS. 

local character, on towns, on the most frivolous pre- 
tences: founded upon favouritism, in consequence of 
some servile act of flattery, or acknowledgment of 
homage, by the people of such towns. 

These charters, operated with injustice upon other 
towns, which had not the address or opportunity to 
obtain equal privileges. 

They generally included a power to send one or 
two members to represent them in parliament. And 
as those charters were unlimited in their duration, 
and many of those corporate borough towns became 
decayed, and their population reduced to very few 
capable of giving a vote, and other towns grew up, 
from the industry and enterprise of their inhabitants, 
who had no corporate privileges, a very great and 
unjust inequality of parliamentary representation at 
length ensued, under which the grossest abuses pre- 
vailed. 

Designing persons, wishing to retain an undue in- 
fluence in the government, being generally wealthy, 
were enabled by bribery, patronage, and other means, 
easily to direct, and govern, the votes of the few re- 
maining voters, in the old rotten boroughs; and by 
that means to send two members to parliament of 
their own choice, and pledged to support their pecu- 
liar interests; while tens of thousands, in many other 
thriving districts, remained unrepresented. 

Hence the great struggle which has been so long 
maintained in that kingdom, between the people and 
their oppressors, relative to a reform of parliament. 
The people, and their patriotic advocates, labouring 
for the suppression of the old, abusive, arbitrary sys- 
tem of decayed boroughs, and for introducing a more 
equal representation, to defend their rights in parlia- 
ment. And the advocates of aristocracy on the other 
hand, constantly opposing a reformation, lest their 
unjust usurpations of power should be controlled. 

These facts, being familiarly known to our legisla- 
tors, have tended to establish, and increase, a jealousy 



INSURANCES. 169 

and care, under our republican governments, to guard 
well, in all cases where charters are granted, against 
the possibility of abuses in any shape, which might 
arise and grow up, beyond the power of the people, 
through their governments, promptly to control. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
INSURANCES. 

Insurances are sometimes made by wealthy indi- 
viduals, upon their own responsibility; but generally, 
in the United States, by incorporated companies. 

At the same time that insurances are calculated on 
principles to produce at least a fair profit to the com- 
pany insuring, they are a great benefit to many indi- 
vidual citizens, who resort to them against the dan- 
gers of sea voyages, and the dangers by fire, in cities, 
towns, and manufacturing establishments. 

In cases where insurances are efiected, it will not 
be supposed that the measures resorted to, will actu- 
ally prevent the losses which may accrue on the pro- 
perty insured; but that the losses so accruing, are, by 
the act of insurance, transferred, for a stipulated con- 
sideration, from the owners of the property to the in- 
surance company. 

By a long course of observation, and a careful re- 
cord of facts as they have occurred, insurance compa- 
nies are enabled to calculate, with a tolerable degree 
of precision, what has been the average of losses by 
shipwrecks at sea, on voyages to any given distant 
port. On this average, they calculate the probable 
risks on any new voyages to those ports. To this 
average, they add a certain per centage on the value 
of the ship and cargo to be insured, sufficient to pay 
15 



170 INSURANCES. 

a due proportion of the expenses of their establish- 
ment, and a reasonable per centage of profit on their 
stock at risk. 

These sums, constitute the price paid by the owner 
of the property, to the insurance company, for its 
adopting his risk. 

The amount thus paid, is called a premium, and 
the written instrument, expressing the bargain, is 
called d. policy. 

If the vessel makes the voyage in safety, the in- 
surance company of course retains its premium. If 
the vessel and cargo are lost on the voyage, the in- 
surance company pays to the owner, the amount of 
the value at which they were calculated. 

Thus, the owner of the property, has a stock pre- 
served in safety, on which to commence new opera- 
tions, when he might otherwise have been totally ru- 
ined in his circumstances, had the loss fallen wholly on 
himself. And at the same time, the company is on 
the whole, a gainer by its business. Because, if, for 
instance, experience has determined, that of twenty 
ships going each a voyage to a certain port, one out 
of the twenty has upon an average been lost, the part 
of the premiums paid to the company, on the esti- 
mated value of those twenty ships and cargoes, will 
pay the entire loss of one; leaving to the insurance 
company, the amount added to, and paid with, and 
as a part of, the twenty premiums, as a profit on their 
business. 

In times of war, or on vo3^ages to seas frequented 
by pirates, the premiums are enlarged, according as 
experience, or the judgment of tlie contracting par- 
ties, may calculate the additional risks. 

The same principles, embrace the subject of insu- 
rances against fire; which will be understood and ap- 
plied, by an ingenious youth, without further expla- 
nation. 

It may be observed, however, that where much 
property is embarked in an extensive manufacturing 
establishment, comprising the whole of the estates of 



INSURANCES. 171 

one or more individuals, besides, perhaps, considera- 
ble amounts, obtained by the adventurers upon loan 
or credit, it would be very imprudent for such persons 
to risk the whole of their own, and perhaps much of 
the property of others, without insurance against fire, 
which so frequently occurs at such establishments. 

A species of insurance is sometimes effected, called 
insurance on lives; which no one will suppose, can 
have any effect in guarding against the approaches of 
death. A short explanation, by way of a supposed 
example, will illustrate the principle of the intention. 

A young man, for instance, without patrimony, is 
educated to a mercantile business. On the expiration 
of his apprenticeship, he marries; depending at pre- 
sent, on such salary as he may obtain, for the support 
of a beloved wife and little family. Being found to 
possess excellent qualifications for business, he is re- 
tained in the service of some eminent merchant; who, 
having occasion for a trusty agent to send on a long 
journey, or perhaps a long sea voyage, on concerns 
relating to his commercial business, employs the 
young man in the service. 

Some friend of his, or perhaps some connexion of 
his wife, foreseeing, that if he die or be lost, on the 
journey or voyage, his family will be left destitute on 
his salary ceasing, goes to the insurance office, where 
he states the case, with the age, constitution, and 
common health and habits, of his friend who has left 
his home. And knowing his capacity for business, 
and his prospects on his return, estimates the value of 
his life to his family, in a merely pecuniary point of 
view, at a given sum — say 10,000 dollars. The in- 
surance company, viewing the case, and calculating 
the probabilities of life, with the dangers of the sea or 
the perils of a journey, according to rules which they 
have prepared for all occasions which may present in 
the course of their business, receives of the friend, 
the premium which they suppose the circumstances 
require: which is generally very moderate. 



1 72 ' BANKS. 

If the young man return in safety, the premium is 
cheerfully lost by the friend whose good will dictated 
the measure, or otherwise accommodated between 
the parties. If he dies, or is lost, on the voyage or 
journey, his widow, instead of encountering a state 
of destitution added to her sorrow, is perhaps sur- 
prised at the discovery, that she is entitled to draw 
from the insurance company, the sum of 10,000 dol- 
lars; from which she finds a plentiful support, and the 
means of educating her helpless orphan children with 
independence and comfort. 

Many other transactions occur in the community, 
founded on the same or similar principles; though 
greatly varying in their manner and form, according 
to the varying circumstances of the cases. 



CHAPTER XV. 



BANKS. 

Banks, are institutions established in commercial 
cities, and in those country towns where their opera- 
tions may be expected to be useful to the community. 

The foundation and spring of all their operations is 
money; and their chief business loaning of money, to 
those who have occasion to borrow; especially for 
short, limited periods. 

The money of a bank, is generally owned by a 
company of individuals, who have funds at leisure to 
devote to the purpose. And these companies are in- 
corporated, either by the general government or state 
legislatures. 

When an act of incorporation is passed by the legis- 
lature, it defines the amount of money which shall be 
laised for the use of the bank; and this sum must be 
raised before it goes into operation: any member of 



BANKS. 173 

the community, being at liberty to become a subscri- 
ber ; and every subscriber to a larger or smaller amount, 
becoming by his subscription, a member of the corpo- 
rate company. 

The sum thus raised, is the stock of the bank; or 
the capital upon which it transacts its business. And 
the amount of business transacted, by a well regulated 
and justly administered banking institution, ought al- 
ways to be limited, in a just and reasonable propor- 
tion, to the amount of its capital. 

By its chartered privileges, secured by its incorpo- 
ration, a banking company becomes what is legally 
termed a body corporate. And in this capacity, it is 
qualified to sue at law or be sued; and to transact all 
its special corporate concerns, wdth the same rights 
and facilities as if the whole company were an indi- 
vidual. 

By its corporate powers, it is qualified to hold pro- 
perty in real estate, to a certain amount limited by 
the legislature which grants its charter, and to dis- 
count notes of individuals, or trading companies, and 
buy and sell bullion, and bills of exchange on foreign 
nations. 

The business of a banking company, is controlled 
and regulated, by a number of men elected by the 
stockholders from amongst themselves. These are 
called directors, and they again elect a president from 
amongst themselves; who presides over their delibe- 
rations, and superintends generally, the concerns of 
the institution. 

When the amount of stock required, is paid into 
the hands of the officers of the company, it is depo- 
sited in places of safe keeping provided for the pur- 
pose, and every precaution used to secure it from 
danger by fire and robbery. And to represent it, for 
more convenient circulation, the directors issue notes, 
signed by their president and cashier — the latter be- 
ing their chief officer, having charge of their books, 
and of the money in their vaults. 
15* 



174 BANKS. 

Their cash is held responsible for the payment 
of their notes, whenever individuals holding them 
choose to demand payment. But, as notes, on ac- 
count of their lightness of carriage, are much more 
convenient for circulation than silver, payment of 
notes, of a bank in good credit, is rarely demanded, 
unless in limited sums, to answer some particular 
purpose. 

This circumstance, being a custom settled by the 
general consent of the community, and well under- 
stood, banking companies, in confidence thereof, are 
justified in keeping a larger amount of notes in circu- 
lation than they have silver and gold in their vaults. 
They are, by thus having more money loaned out 
than has been paid into their vaults in original stock, 
enabled, by the additional interest they receive on 
their extended loans, to provide suitable buildings 
for the accommodation of the bank, and to pay the 
salaries of the officers and clerks employed in its bu- 
siness. And generally, beside meeting these ex- 
penses, and the losses they occasionally sustain, by 
persons in their debt becoming insolvent," they real- 
ize an income from their business, to a greater amount 
than the mere legal interest for the money furnished 
in original stock. 

This advantage the company appears to be justly- 
entitled to, in consequence of the benefit conferred 
on the community, by the increased amount of a safe 
circwlating medium, furnished for its use, and based 
upon the well sustained credit of the institution, ari- 
sing from its prudent and judicious management. 

The bank, is also enabled to extend its loans, by 
means of the amount of money always in its coffers, 
on fluctuating deposites for safe keeping; and belong- 
ing to individuals to whom it pays no interest — the 
safe keeping of the money, being considered by its 
owners a compensation sufficient for its temporary use. 

The original stock of a bank is divided into a given 
number of shares, of equal amount, and these shares 
become legitimate objects of trade. Those who have 



BANKS. 175 

shares of stock, and desire to raise money, selling to 
those who have money, and desire to possess stock. 
The price of shares heing higher or lower, according 
to the amount of interest realized by the bank on its 
original shares, after deducting its current expenses. 

Though banking companies sometimes lend money 
on mortgages upon lands or houses, called real es- 
tate, their loans are generally made by discounting 
notes. If a note is given for money directly bor- 
rowed, without any previous business transaction on 
which it is founded, it is endorsed by some friend of 
the borrower, as personal security for its payment. 
Otherwise, when a transaction in trade takes place 
between two persons, on which a credit is stipulated, 
the buyer gives to the seller his note, payable at the 
expiration of the credit. The seller, wishing to con- 
vert his note thus received into ready money, offers 
it to the bank for discount, with his own endorse- 
ment as security. The bank, then pays him the 
amount, after deducting the interest for the time the 
note has to run till due. By this mode of manage- 
ment, the whole credit, as well as the whole stock in 
cash, of the trading community, is capable of being 
brought into active operation. 

The bank of the United States, is much the largest 
banking establishment in the Union. Its charter was 
granted by the general government; which commonly 
has held a large amount of its stock. It is located in 
Philadelphia. Its capital is fixed at 35,000,000 dol- 
lars. It has branches, called its ^'offices of discount 
and deposite," established in nearly every state in 
the Union. In these offices, business is transacted by 
directors and under officers, as in the parent bank; 
and with them it maintains a constant intercourse, by 
which it is furnished with a regular account of the 
state of the business in each branch. And according 
to advices thus received, it transmits funds to, or or- 
ders payments from, its branches, according as cir- 
cumstances require* 



176 BANKS. 

The notes Issued from, or made payable in, the pa- 
rent bank, or any of those branches, being mutually 
receivable on deposite, in the parent bank, or in any 
other branch, affords an astonishing facility for trans- 
mitting sums of money, to any desired amount, from 
one extremity of the Union to another. 

If, as an instance, a m.erchant in New Orleans in 
the south, or in St. Louis in the west, or in Portland 
in the east, has a sum of any amount, which he wishes 
to remit to Philadelphia, or to any other quarter of 
the Union, he deposites his money in the office of 
discount and deposite where he resides, and procures 
from the office a draft on the parent bank, or on any 
other branch most convenient, made payable to his 
correspondent, wherever he wishes to send it. 

This draft, he may forward by mail to his corre- 
spondent, without the least possible risk of loss, by 
accident on the way. Because, as it is made payable 
only to his correspondent named in it, no other per- 
son into whose hands it may fall, by robbery, fraud, 
or accident, can draw the amount from the bank, with- 
out the correspondent's signature. 

Thus the directors of this institution — men of the 
first standing for general mercantile and financial 
knowledge — have, by a skilful direction and manage- 
ment, of the very extensive concerns of the institu- 
tion, been instrumental in establishing, throughout 
the whole extent of the United States, a sound and 
equalized state of the currency, never experienced in 
any other equal extent of territory within our practi- 
cal or historical knowledge. 

Although, by means of the overwhelming capital 
of the bank of the United States, it might be supposed 
by some, to be in the power of the directors, from 
selfish motives, to discredit the notes of smaller 
banks, and bring on them insuperable difficulties, 
in times of general pressure, arising from peculiar 
temporary circumstances of the general trade of the 
country, yet, by a liberal and manly conduct toward 



BANKS. 177 

such smaller institutions, the directors of the United 
States bank, have been essentially instrumental in 
sustaining the credit of the smaller banks, and thus 
preventing a distressing state of temporary embarrass- 
ment, which, under those circumstances, they might 
in some instances have witnessed. 

The benefit arising from this course of conduct,^ 
has also in a signal manner, extended itself to the 
community; by preventing the losses, and derange- 
ment of individual business, which would be the in- 
evitable consequence of a suspension of payments, by 
any bank transacting an extended business, even 
when its funds were sufficient to render it safe, and 
fully equal to the eventual payment of all its notes in 
circulation. 

Under these views, the bank of the United States, 
thus skilfully managed, is acknowledged by all men 
of disinterested judgment, and possessing a common 
share of correct infonr.ation, to be of more extensive 
general benefit, to our vastly extended community, 
than any other plan ever devised by the ingenuity of 
man for similar purposes. Under the various views 
presented by the subject, the suspension of its opera- 
tions, would, in the present state of the commercial 
and general national community, naturally be antici- 
pated, as a national evil, of immense importance and 
magnitude. If we further consider its unrivalled 
convenience and facilities for transmitting the pay- 
ments to be made by the government, to any quarter 
of the Union where they may be required, it would 
seem to afford us decisive proof, that the institution 
is deserving of, and ought to receive, the ample pro- 
tection and patronage of the nation. 



173 

CHAPTER XVI. 
THE MINT. 

The mint, is the name of the office established in 
Philadelphia, where the money of the United States 
is coined. 

Its operations are conducted by officers under the 
pay of the general government. One of them called 
''Director of the rnmt,^^ superintends the whole con- 
cern. Another is called the assayer; whose business 
it is to ascertain, by the proper chemical tests, the 
value of the metals offered for coinage, determine the 
quantity, if any, of spurious mixtures it may contain, 
and report its standard, or degree of purity. 

The coins of gold and silver, are always, from the 
policy of the government, mixed with copper, as a 
metal of inferior value, in certain fixed small propor- 
tions. The inferior metal, thus artificially combined, 
is called alloy. According to the report of the assayer, 
the next officer, called the melter and refiner, causes 
those mixtures to be made; taking care that the exact 
proportion of alloy is introduced; in order that the 
pieces of coinage, of every denomination, may be of 
equal relative purity and value. 

To perform the operation of mixture, it is necessa- 
ry that the metal shall undergo fusion. For this pur- 
pose a suitable furnace is provided, in which, by a 
strong heat, the metal is melted. After fusion, the 
metal is cast, by the refiner, into square bars, called 
ingots, of about one foot in length. These bars are 
then delivered to the coiner; w^ho superintends all 
the remaining operations. 

The bars are, by direction of the coiner, placed 
in another furnace provided for the purpose; and 
after receiving a due proportion of heat, they are 



THE MINT. 179 

passed between smooth steel rollers, by means of a 
strong mechanical force, operating by the power of 
steam. By this operation they are reduced to the 
form of plates, or hoops, of about five or six feet 
long; of a suitable breadth, and of the exact thick- 
ness for the pieces of coin they are intended to be se- 
verally wrought into. 

The pieces of coin, are then, by a single stroke of a 
machine, operating by the same steam power, at the 
rate of 150 strokes per minute, cut from the plates, 
to their proper size and circular form, and discharged 
into a receiver below. In this state the pieces are 
called blanks. 

They are next, by a curiously contrived instru- 
ment operating by hand, but with great despatch, 
made to turn circularly, between pieces of steel, con- 
taining the letters to he imprinted upon the edge of 
the coin. This operation is called milling. 

They are lastly, placed between two instruments 
of hardened steel, called dies, having engraved upon 
them in reverse, the designs intended to be impressed 
upon the two sides of the pieces. Then, by a ma- 
chine of great force, created by the quick, rapid, ope- 
ration of a double lever, w^orking with a horizontal 
sweep, by the strength of arm of two or three men, 
the impressions are given to both sides of the piece 
at once. 

The blanks are conveyed from the bottom of a tube 
containing them, to their place between the dies, and 
discharged from it, in the state of beautiful finished 
coin, with a surprising rapidit)'^, and with the most 
exact certainty of time and circumstance, by the ope- 
ration of springs connected with the impressing lever. 
The manual labour of coinage, is performed by men 
hired for the purpose. And as gold and silver are of 
high value, and a small portion deducted from the 
mass under operation, would, in point of value, be of 
proportionate importance, and moreover could be 
easily concealed, in order to remove temptation from 
the workmen, who, like other human beings, must 



180 THE MINT, 

be considered liable to aberration from the line of 
rectitude, when great temptations are presented, the 
metal on which they have to operate is accurately 
weighed when they receive it And by weighing it 
again when they return it, either in its perfect state 
of coinage, or after any particular operation, the up- 
rightness of their conduct is tested and established. 
Or rather, perhaps, from the impossibility of a fraud 
passing without detection, under this course of pro- 
cedure, all temptation is prevented. 

A very considerable part of the metal furnished for 
coinage of latter years, is procured from the gold 
mines of Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia. Other por- 
tions of it are imported fi'om other countries — par- 
ticularly from South America and Mexico. The pre- 
cious metals, in their uncoined state, are denominated 
bullion. 

As coinage is a national concern, and the creation 
of a sufficient amount of a circulating medium is of 
great national importance, the expenses of coinage, 
so far at least as go to the establishment of expen- 
sive buildings, machinery, and superintendence, 'are 
wholly borne b}^ the government. The nation, how- 
ever, is not the owner of the metal coined. Bullion is 
an article of trade; which, whether procured from the 
mines of our own country, or imported from foreign 
realms, passes generally through the hands of mer- 
chants. These convey it to the mint in order to be 
coined; where the current expenses charged upon the 
operation are so moderate, that a merchant, furnish- 
ing bullion nearly or quite in a pure state, generally 
receives more weight of metal in a coined state, than 
he delivers in bullion — the moderate expenses charg- 
ed, being more than covered, by the difference be- 
tween pure bullion and the metal in its coined state, 
after having received the alloy required to reduce it 
to the national standard. 



181 



CHAPTER XVII. 



POST OFFICES. 

Post offices are instituted for the safe, speedy, 
and regular conveyance of intelligence, both public 
and private; by letters, newspapers, and other de- 
spatches, from one part to any other of the Union. 

In a free government, it is considered of vital im- 
portance to the political welfare of the community, 
that the people shall be made easily acquainted with 
political movements; and with transactions generally, 
which relate to every branch of the public interest. 
Hence, for the general benefit of the nation, both in 
its public and private interests, the establishment, 
and regular administration of post offices have become 
a branch of the care and duty of the national govern- 
ment. 

The business of the post office department, is trans- 
acted under the superintendence of a Post Master 
General, appointed by the President. His office is 
kept at the seat of the general government. He has 
the appointment of all the deputies in the different 
post offices in the United States. 

The business of the general post office is very ex- 
tensive, and very arduous; and the presiding officer, 
is expected to be a man of eminent talent for business, 
and of assiduous industry; and consequently the of- 
fice ranks among the highest posts of profit in the 
gift of the President, the salary annexed to it being 
♦),000 dollars a year. 

If industriously and skilfully administered, the de- 
partment is generally capable of being made to pro- 
duce an item of national revenue, beside paying all its 
own expenses. 
16 



1S2 POST OFFICES. 

If, on the other hand, the incumbent in office, 
should not possess sufficient qualifications, or should 
be negligent in his duties, or should, through favorit- 
ism, or want of proper knowledge, or from motives 
still less pardonable, commit the diffigrent offices un- 
der him to unworthy or dishonest hands, so vastly 
extended is the general business of the department, 
that it would be likely soon to fall into confusion, 
the public be liable to gross impositions, and to be 
subjected to many disappointments in the regular con- 
veyance of despatches; and the department probably 
become a burden to the government; because of its 
receipts, in consequence of defections among its sub- 
ordinate officers or otherwise, becoming less than the 
necessary expenses of the department, and thus obli- 
ging it to draw on the general treasury for the de- 
ficiency. This last circumstance may, however, 
sometimes occur under good management, when in 
any particular year the national interest may require 
some expensive new arrangement. 

Post offices have become so abundantly multiplied, 
for the accommodation of all the citizens of the Union, 
however remotely or insularly situated, that they are 
established in almost every settled neighborhood 
throughout the states and territories, to a number 
exceeding 9,000. And the aggregate amount of dis- 
tances, which the mails are now carried in a year, by 
stages, sulkies, steamboats, and on horseback, is calcu- 
lated at 23,625,000 miles; the aggregate length of the 
routes being 104,467 miles, according to the official 
report of the department made in the year 1S32. But 
the length, by the extension of routes, is annually on 
a rapid increase. 

The enclosures in which letters are carried are call- 
ed mails: probably from the idea of their being, by 
reason of the measures taken to ensure their safety, 
comparable, in point of security, to the coats of mail 
worn in ancient times, by warriors in battle; which 
were designed to be impenetrable by the weapons of 
their enemies. 



183 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



PATENT OFFICE. 

The comparative ease with which the necessaries 
of life, may, in this country, by a moderate share of 
industry be obtained, is a circumstance which, from 
the leisure thereby afforded, is peculiarly favorable to 
the cultivation of mechanical genius. 

Accordingly, attempts at improvement, by the in- 
vention of new machinery, and implements of almost 
every description, designed for facilitating the ope- 
rations of handicraft labor, and the perfection of the 
arts, and the application of substances, simple and 
compound, to new useful purposes, have been mul- 
tiplied, perhaps beyond example in other nations. 

Many inventions for facilitating mechanical ope- 
rations, and designed to promote the perfection of 
science, have occupied the studious care and labor of 
individuals, according as their pursuits in life, have 
directed their attention to various objects which have 
borne a relation to their business. 

Other inventors, have embraced a wider field of 
philosophical research, having, perhaps, little or no 
direct connexion with their other practical pursuits. 

Of these attempts at improvement, many have 
proved eminently successful; and some have become 
sources of independence and wealth to the inventors. 
Many others, though unsuccessful, have displayed 
strong powers of inventive genius, but have, perhaps, 
been superseded by something more perfect, or have 
lacked the capacity, of the advantageous application of 
some mechanical or scientific principle, indispensable 
to success. Others, no doubt, have betrayed absurd 
or incoherent attempts, at a display of genius never 
possessed. 



184 PATENT OFFICE. 

For the encouragement of genius, and the remune- 
ration of all who may be able to eflfect any valuable 
improvement, laws have been passed, securing the 
property of every such invention to its proper author, 
for the term of fourteen years; he, making application 
according to law, and receiving a patent according to 
the forms prescribed. 

For the superintendence, and due administration, 
of this branch of the paternal care of the government, 
an office has been created, called the ^' Patent Office;'* 
and a person of competent abilities, employed by the 
government, under a salary, to preside over its con- 
cerns. 

Connected with the office is a large apartment, in 
which are deposited, models, of all the different ma- 
chines and mechanical improvements, for which pa- 
tents have been issued since the establishment of the 
office, in 1790. The models are said to number at 
the present time, about 7000, and are annually increas- 
ing to a large amount. 

An inspection of the models thus collected, would, 
it is presumed, afford much entertainment, and per- 
haps some instruction, to the philanthropist, the man 
of genius, the philosopher, and the friend of science- 
Patented improvements in the various arts and 
sciences, which do not admit of description by model, 
are also there identified b)^ appropriate records. 

Similar laws extend to the security of books, and 
other literary productions. To meet the provisions 
of the laws in those cases, it is made the duty of the 
clerk of the district court of the United States, in 
each district, to receive, and deposite in his office, 
impresses of the titles of new books, or other literary 
productions, which may be offered to him for the pur- 
pose; by which process, the exclusive right of each is 
secured to the author or proprietor. 

By pursuing the forms prescribed by a late law, 
the exclusive right to works of this description is ca- 
pable of being extended to a much longer protracted 
term. 



185 



CHAPTER XIX. 



FISHERIES. 

In the various rivers along the Atlantic coast, are 
taken in the spring season, large quantities of shad 
and herrings. They are taken by means of a kind of 
net called a seine, and formed of strong twine; some 
of which, for the use of large rivers, where they have 
sufficient room for a ^reat sweep, are made to an ex- 
tent approaching a mile in length. The quantity 
sometimes taken by these nets at one draught, where 
the fish happen to be collected in astonishing num- 
bers, is so great as to exceed the bounds of credibi- 
lity, with those who have not been witnesses to the 
fact. 

A large proportion of these are purchased when 
fresh, in the cities, towns, and country places, border- 
ing on the rivers where they are taken. The surplus 
are salted and packed in barrels; for after use, for a 
further transport into the country, or for exportation. 

The northern lakes, also, are stocked with fish, of 
various kinds, and excellent qualities. These, at the 
proper seasons, are taken in great quantities; and 
thousands of barrels are annually preserved, and sent 
in different directions, for the supply of the inhabit- 
ants at a distance. 

The coast of the Pacific ocean, and the rivers dis- 
charging into it, are frequented by great numbers of 
salmon — a large fish of excellent quality. The na- 
tives have attained to a considerable degree of art, in 
their methods of taking them, and preserving them 
for use; necessarily setting a great value upon them, 
for their supplies of food. They may, hereafter, be- 
come an object of importance, if white settlements 
should be established on that coast. 
16* 



1S6 FISHERIES- 

But all these nsheries. are perhaps, less to be view- 
ed at present, in the light of a national interest, than 
the great fisheries of cod and mackerelj and of the 
whale and seal. 

In the Atlantic ocean, near the entrance of the gulf 
of St. Lawrence, is a large island, called Newfound- 
land. From the southern coast of this island, extends 
a kind of sub-marine mountain, or elevation of the 
bottom of the sea, of the length of many leagues north 
and south, and of an extensive breadth. This rising 
in the ocean is covered with a suficient depth of wa- 
ter, to allow ships to pass over it without obstruction. 
Its different parts are of different elevations, which 
give it a plurality of character: being called in sea- 
men's phrase, **the banks of Newfoundland. "' 

Over these banks, and along the coast of Labrador, 
are the most important places of resort of the cod- 
fish, and to these stations, the vessels of several na- 
tions, repair, at the proper season, in great numbers; 
a large proportion of which belong to the New Ens- 
land states. 

The vessels anchor on the banks, and along the 
coast, when the hands are employed in taking the fish 
with hooks and lines. After the fish are salted, and 
dried on the neighbouring shores, they are exported 
in large quantities to foreign markets. On the coast 
of Labrador alone, it is stated, that 1500 vessels be- 
longing to New Ensland, are occupied in a season. 

Along the New England coast, is the principal re- 
gion of the mackerel fisheries. These also are taken 
with hook and line: yet seines are sometimes em- 
ployed, especially in the nighL These fisheries af- 
ford employment for many hands, during the fishing 
season. After the fish are properly cleansed, salted, 
and packed in barrels, they are shipped in lar^e quan- 
tities, to the different ports southward, and exported 
to foreign places: affording a dainty and agreeable 
irticle of food. 

A confinement to fishino: as a business, might, no 
doubt, soon become unwelcome, to some who would 



FISHERIES. 187 

enjoy the exercise merely as an amusement. Could 
a youth, delighting in it, be transported to the scene 
of action, and be able to leave it and return to the 
shore, as soon, and as often as he pleased, it must be 
supposed, that it would furnish him much gratifica- 
tion, occasionally to visit the fisheries, and haul up 
his line as quickly as he could let it down, with as 
many fine fish hanging to it as he chose to attach 
hooks. So freely, sometimes, does the beautiful 
mackerel, in its unsuspecting innocence, lay hold of 
the instrument of its destruction. 

A fit subject of reflection and caution, to inexperi- 
enced youth; to whom temptations may be suddenly 
presented, to participate in any act of folly or vice, 
by which his reputation would be wounded, or his 
moral character debased. 

His compliance with temptation to evil, like the 
mackerel seizing the bait, beside subjecting himself 
to remorse and bitter repentance, being productive 
of great mortification and disappointment to his family 
and friends; who, having perceived in him a noble 
principle of radical probity, had fondly anticipated 
his arrival at manhood, adorned with every feature of 
honesty and truth, and qualified to fulfil the duties of 
his station with unblemished dignity and honour. 

The produce of these fisheries, being derived from 
the common ocean, without any expense of feeding, 
as in the case of animals raised and fatted by the care 
and labour of man, is considered a kind of clear gain 
to the community; and is viewed by the government 
as an important item of national w"ealth. 

As the island of Newfoundland, and the adjacent 
shores on the continent, are held by Great Britain, 
the right of participating in the benefits of the fishe- 
ries, and drying fish on some parts of the neighbour- 
ing coast, was secured to the United States, by a spe- 
cial article in the treaty of peace with that nation, at 
the close of the war of independence. 

But the great objects of bold and daring enterprise, 



188 FISHERIES. 

with the hardy and adventurous sons of New Eng- 
land, are the distant whale and seal fisheries. 

Whales were formerly very numerous in the north- 
ern seas, near the icy regions; and not uncommonly 
found along the New England coast. Individuals of 
the species, are understood to have been then much 
larger in those seas than at present, as well as that 
they were in general more easily taken. The change 
is accounted for, by the circumstance that they have 
been so much hunted, and so many of them destroy- 
ed, that their numbers have become reduced, and they 
have not been allowed so generally to arrive at their 
full growth; and have, withal, become more shy, and 
cautious of approach. 

Observing these circumstances, the eastern adven- 
turers some years ago, conceived the design of ex- 
ploring the far distant regions of the south, in similar 
latitudes; from an apprehension of the likelihood, 
that those monarchs of the deep, had a residence in 
those remote unfrequented regions, in equal numbers 
with the north in former days. 

On carrying their hazardous design into execution, 
they were not disappointed. And now, a whaling 
voyage to the high south latitudes, or to the Pacific 
ocean, has become as familiar to some of them, as a 
coasting voyage to the gulf of Mexico. Still, how- 
ever, the pursuit of the whale in the northern seas 
claims a proportionate share of attention. 

Before the whale trade in the southern seas had 
received as much attention by those engaged in the 
fisheries as at present, a large ship, sailing on its 
voyage near the high south latitudes, came suddenly 
in company with an old whale of a monstrous size. 

His appearance being unexpected, and the compa- 
ny, not being at the moment prepared to attack him, 
he, after apparently gazing a short time at the ship, 
with disdain, as an unwelcome intruder into his do- 
minions, turned away, and seemed to take his de- 
parture, as if to leave them. 



FISHERIES. 189 

After he had proceeded to some distance, could he 
be supposed to have possessed the capacity of reflec- 
tion, it would seem as if, on further thought, he had 
determined within himself, not to submit to the da- 
ring invasion of his native rights. He, however, 
whether from reflection or not, returned to a direct 
attack upon the ship; and by one tremendous and 
awful blow, stove a part of it in, in such a manner, 
that in a few minutes it filled with water and sank. 
After the one fatal stroke, he departed again in appa- 
rent contempt, and the company saw him no more. 

The company betaking themselves to their boats, 
provided with but little food, or other necessaries, 
were driven about before the winds on the wide 
ocean, for more than seventy days before relief ap- 
peared. 

A ship, after this long interval, coming in sight, 
received the few survivors of the party on board, 
nearly dying, from the effects of exposure, excessive 
fatigue, and want of food and water. 

To attack a whale in his native element, is a bold 
and hazardous enterprize; and sometimes results in 
serious injury, to individuals of the attacking party, 
by the floundering, or adverse motions of the animal, 
in its wounded or dying state. 

A memorable instance of this kind, occurred many 
years ago, to a worthy commander of a whaling ship, 
belonging to an eastern port. Being out on a distant 
voyage, and having taken a whale, it appeared to be 
dead. But unexpectedly to him, one expiring strug- 
gle remained; in which the creature, by a sudden 
stroke of its tail, crushed his leg in nearly its whole 
length, to a confused mass, of bones shattered to frag- 
ments, disorganized flesh, and jellied blood. 

Being far from home, and having no surgeon on 
board, no resource remained for him by which to save 
his life, but to cause his men to perform an amputa- 
tion. Being conveyed to his berth, he directed the 
operation with great presence of mind. He made 
them apply a strong cord in place of a tourniquet; and 



190 FISHERIES. 

with such instruments and materials as were in pos- 
session, they, under his direction, successfully effect- 
ed the amputation, and dressing of the wound. He 
proceeded on his voyage with success; commanding 
the operations of the business of the voyage from his 
berth; and by the time that he arrived with his fa- 
mily, his limb was healed; and he continued a long 
time, an ornament to the circle of society in which he 
resided. 

In consequence of such dangers, and liabilities to 
accident, a peculiar degree of dexterity is necessary 
to be acquired. And hence, the custom of the adven- 
tures in whaling voyages, with respect to the ship's 
companies, is different from the customs in common 
trading vessels. Every person on board, from the 
captain to the cabin boy, is constituted a partner in 
the voyage, and receives his proportion of the pro- 
duce on their return, according to rates previously 
understood. Thus, every person on board is inte- 
rested, in using his most skilful and vigorous efforts 
to promote the general success: and thus the hands, 
become habitually bold, hardy, and energetic. 

The atmospheric air, is as necessary to a whale as 
to a land animal. Hence they generally remain at or 
near the surface of the ocean, and often with the back 
appearing above water. Or, if in sport, or in search 
of food, they descend to any considerable depth, they 
soon rise again to breathe. Though so large as that 
twenty-five or thirty of them, will sometimes furnish 
enough oil and whale-bone to freight a large ship, 
they are capable of moving in the water with asto- 
nishing velocity. 

They are occasionally found in so great numbers, 
collected together in certain tracts of the southern 
seas, as that some of them will, in their playful 
movements, incommode the boats, while engaged in 
capturing others. In a late instance, related by a 
young adventurer of veracity, while the boat's com- 
pany were engaged in managing a whale which they 
had harpooned, another came so near to the boat, to 



nSHERIES. 191 

look upon them, as to seem to court a familiarity 
more intimate than they desired. The commander of 
the boat, then gave him, in good humour, a gentle 
prick on the nose, with a pointed instrument; with a 
request that he would go about his business till he 
was ready for him; when the creature, with the ra- 
pidity of thought, immersing his head in the sea, and 
raising his tail many feet perpendicularly in the air, 
brought it down with a stroke upon the surface, 
which might have been heard at some miles distance. 
Had the stroke fallen upon the boat, it must have 
crushed it to fragments, and sent the mangled bodies 
of the whole company far into the deep. 

The mode of attack is, when a whale appears, to 
man the boats of the ship, with a certain number 
of men to each. The commander of each boat's 
party, is selected for his strength of arm, and steadi- 
ness and dexterity of aim. He is furnished with 
a harpoon of iron, pointed with hardened steel, so 
formed as the most easily to penetrate the flesh of 
the whale, and armed with barbs, to hold in the flesh, 
and prevent it being easily withdrawn, when it has 
once entered to a sufficient depth. Some adventurers, 
however, carry guns of peculiar construction; from 
which, by the force of powder, they discharge the 
harpoon to a greater distance, and with much more 
forcible effect than it can be thrown by the strength 
of a single arm. 

The harpoon is attached to a strong line of great 
length, which is carefully placed in a regular coil in 
the boat. And when, by a dexterous throw, or the 
discharge of the gun, the harpoon has entered the 
flesh of the whale, and he feels himself wounded, 
though he will in some cases exhibit the most violent 
and gigantic contortions, in order to free himself, yet 
the most common circumstance is, that he descends 
as it were to the bottom of the ocean, with such ama- 
zing swiftness, as that the line, by its rapid friction 
on the side of the boat, as it runs out, will throw off 



192 FISHERIES. 

such a constant stream of fire as to require incessant 
wetting, to prevent its kindling on the boat. 

Having descended to a great depth, the whale must 
necessarily return immediately to the surface, to 
breathe; when, by rapidly hauling in the line, as it 
becomes slack, or by observing the direction of his 
descent, the men are directed toward the spot where 
he will rise. 

The next effort of the company is, with a lance 
ready poised, to pierce him, as soon as he appears at 
the surface, in some vital part, from which his blood 
will flow the most copiously; though it often appears 
necessary to plant in his back a second, and perhaps 
a third harpoon, when the first dees not appear to be 
fixed with sufficient firmness. On receiving these 
renewed wounds, he again descends, though with less 
velocity, and to a shorter distance. On his second 
rising, he receives additional strokes of the lance. 
And by this manner of proceeding, becoming weaker 
at every descent, by fatigue, and the loss of blood, 
flowing copiously from his wounds, he soon becomes 
so tractable, that the company tow him to the side of 
the ship, and make him fast. 

When he is dead, the men leap upon him; having 
shoes armed with pointed irons, to prevent their 
slipping into the sea, from his smooth glossy skin: 
when cutting his flesh in large pieces from the skele- 
ton, they throw it upon deck, to be rendered into oil. 

The resorts of the whale being chiefly in high lati- 
tudes^ the stations chosen by the whaling ships are 
frequently in the regions of floating ice; or in the vi- 
cinity of ice mountains or islands, which seem to re- 
tain in the ocean a stationary position. In those high 
latitudes, are frequently experienced sudden violent 
storms; and at intervals dense fogs, which can be pe- 
netrated by the sight, only to short distances. Under 
these circumstances, the men are exposed to great 
dangers, and are obliged to acquire habits of astonish- 
ing dexterity and adroitness, in avoiding them. 



FISHERIES. 193 

When the boat's companies become suddenly en- 
veloped in a heavy fog, while in pursuit of a whale, 
they are in danger, by intensely watching his diverse 
movements, of becoming so much confused, as to lose 
all knowledge or conjecture of the course to return to 
the ship, and are sometimes led, in their ardent pur- 
suit, beyond the reach of the report of the ship's sig- 
nals; when, unless some singular circumstance oc- 
curs in their favour, they are liable to become irre- 
coverably lost. 

On the other hand, when they harpoon a whale, 
near a field or island of ice, he will generally seek a 
shelter under it, to avoid his pursuers; and sometimes, 
the leading boat, to which the line from the harpoon 
is attached, is drawn under and lost, with all its lines 
and instruments; and the men are only saved by leap- 
ing with the most dexterous agility, upon the cakes 
of ice, the moment before the boat is drawn under. 

Though whales, of even a large size, are in some 
instances so easily overcome, that the whole business 
of their capture, from the first attack to their death, 
does not occupy more than from twenty to thirty 
minutes of time; yet, in other instances, in the icy 
regions, they have kept the companies in ardent pur- 
suit, — as the mighty monster has practised his differ- 
ent manoeuvres to escape, — for the tedious space of 
more than fifty hours. And in some such cases, he 
has been finally lost to them; perhaps with the addi- 
tional loss of a vast amount of line, and one or two 
boats, if not with the lives of several men. 

The whales taken are of two species, very distinct 
from each other, though frequenting the same seas, 
and sometimes promiscuously. The spermaceti 
whales are much the most valuable, though much 
the fewest in number. They produce the finest oil, 
and the substance from which sperm candles are 
formed. The flesh of the common whale, which to a 
great depth surrounding his whole body is composed 
of fat, produces the coarser oil, used by curriers in 
17 



194 FISHERIES. 

dressing leather. The substance called whale-bone, is 
taken out of his mouth and throat. 

The taking of seals is pursued also in distant parts, 
— chiefly of late time, among the islands of the Pa- 
cific and southern oceans. The seal is amphibious. 
They resort in herds, to bask on the sandy banks of 
the islands; where they are surrounded by the ship's 
crews, and put to death, with simple weapons formed 
for the purpose. They are taken as well for their oil 
as their skins. The latter are tanned into leather, or 
used for other purposes after being partially dressed. 

There are two species — one covered with short 
bristly hair, and the other with a beautiful, fine fur. 
From the latter are formed many of the fine caps 
worn by boys in winter. 

All these fisheries are chiefly conducted on the 
part of our Union, by the inhabitants of the eastern 
states. Their dense population, and the circumstances 
of their soil, as less adapted to culture than some other 
districts of the Union, obliges many of them to seek 
employment abroad for a livelihood; and foreign en- 
terprise thus becomes habitual to them. The trade is 
however of great and general national benefit, by fur- 
nishing oil to the whole Union, for lamps and manu- 
facturing purposes; besides the exchanges furnished 
by the quantities exported, in payment fui the manu- 
factures of other countries. 



195 



CHAPTER XX. 



FUR TRADE. 

When we speak of the fur trade as a national in- 
terest, we have allusion to the trade in the skins of the 
native wild animals, taken in the uncultivated parts 
of the national domains, chiefly by the Indian nations. 

This trade, was formerly an important concern in 
almost all the principle trading places bordering on 
the Atlantic; until the extended population and cul- 
tivation, caused the removal of the natives, and de- 
stroyed the animals, or broke up their places of breed- 
ing or resort. 

At present, the principal part of the trade, is de- 
rived from the flistnnt regions of the Missouri terri- 
tory, and the northern country of the Mi^sissippiy 
bounding on the British dominions and upon lake 
Superior. In those regions — particularly in the for- 
mer — the beaver, the deer, and many other species 
of large and small native animals, remain in great 
numbers; and the Indian tribes continue to maintain 
their identity and political consideration, and the ex- 
ercise of their national rio;hts. 

The term '^ fur trade, '^ in its extended application, 
referring as already observed, to a traffic in the skins 
of native animals generally, would admit of being 
distinguished in two parts. , The first would embrace 
those skins, the covering of which is fine, soft, and 
downy; strictly denominated fur, and used when se- 
parated from the skin, for the manufacture of hats: 
and when connected with it, for making sundry ar- 
ticles for warmth or ornament. The second, those 
skins which are merely covered with hair, and which 
are used principally for dressing into leather, and for 



196 FUR TRADE. 

such purposes as they are applicable to, in a state but 
partially dressed. The term peltry, has also a ge- 
neral application to them, but perhaps is more strict- 
ly understood to represent the latter, when a distinc- 
tion is necessary. The latter is valued chiefly for the 
skin itself. The former principally for its covering. 

The fur trade is conducted by men who devote 
their attention particularly to it. They pass up the 
Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and some of their 
branches, to certain stations where the natives collect 
annually after their hunting seasons are over. There, 
they furnish the Indians with such articles as they 
have provided, from a knowledge of their wants, and 
receive their furs and peltry in exchange. 

When the season of trading w^ith the natives is 
over, the traders return down the rivers, with their 
packages, to St. Louis, or along the line of the lakes 
to Detroit, or some other town, and with them pur- 
chase a fresh supply of goods for the next season. 
Thus, passing and repassing, they perform voyages 
to the amount perhaps of several thousand miles 
eyery ypar-^thc disiance depending upon the differ- 
ent routes they pursue. 

The skins and furs, afterward, find their way to 
the Atlantic cities, by passing down the Mississippi 
to New Orleans — by the New York canal — or by in- 
land transportation to Philadelphia or Baltimore. 

The fur trade is an object of the paternal care of 
the government. This care is exerted in adopting 
measures to prevent the subjects of other governments 
trespassing against our national rights, by unlawful 
collision with our own citizens engaged in the trade. 

Without this care, much of the trade might be di- 
verted from its natural and just channels, into other 
courses, from which we should derive no national be- 
nefit; and a door would be open for designing men, 
from interested motives, to instil into the minds of 
the uneducated natives, the principles of jealousy and 
enmity against our government, by which the quiet- 



FUR TRADE. 197 

ness and peace of our frontier settlements would be 
endangered. 

A very extensive north-western fur trade, in con- 
nexion with the great northern lakes, is carried on 
in the British dominions, distinct from that of the 
United States. 

The active drudgery of this trade is performed by 
a hardy race of men, who prefer a travelling life, and 
associations with the natives, in their sports and 
revelries, at their places of rendezvous, to a settled 
course of agriculture, or the domestic pursuits of a 
more civilized life; and who often undergo priva- 
tions and hardships, which it would be difficult for 
those educated in the bosom of more refined society 
to reconcile. 

On some of their excursions, they take but little 
provision on setting out; depending on supplies which 
they manufacture or prepare, from pounded flesh, or 
bruised native fruits, at certain stations on their 
routes. 

They are at some places, subjected to the labor of 
carrying their boats, and cargoes of peltry, round falls 
and difficult passes in the rivers. These are called 
^^ carrying places." And it being considered in 
trader's usage, disgraceful to flinch, or complain, on 
account of the heavy burdens they have on those oc- 
casions to bear, it is said that the young men, who 
engage in the trade without experience of its hard- 
ships, will stand to their burdens, in long difficult 
portages, till their shoulders bleed, without suffering 
themselves to utter a complaint. So great do they 
consider the disgrace that would attach to any proof 
of inefficiency. 

They nevertheless take their solace in merriment, 
at their stations of rest; and the companies who re- 
turn on the lakes, after their trading seasons are over, 
appearing highly to enjoy their mode of life, will, by 
a concert of voices, raise such a loud, shrill, and pe- 
culiar chorus, as to be heard gliding along the sur- 
face of the water, in a calm evening, for a long time 
17* 



198 COMMERCE. 

before the boats can be perceived at the places of their 
destination: raising wonder and astonishment, in those 
unacquainted with the custom, at the peculiar sounds 
they hear, so long before they can understand their 
meaning or cause. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



COMMERCE. 

The term ^' Commerce," applies generally to all 
transactions in trade, by which things of definite va- 
lue are exchanged for other things of definite value; 
whether the exchanges are made directly between ar- 
ticles of produce or manufacture, or through the me- 
dium of money, as a common representative of all 
transferable property. It comprehends all transac- 
tions of buying, selling, and otherwise passing of 
goods, from the legal possession of one to another, 
and the transporting them from place to place. 
Though, perhaps, the term is more commonly un- 
derstood, as expressive of the transactions of those 
who manage complicated mercantile concerns. 

The importer, the exporter, the wholesale and re- 
tail dealer, the commission merchant, the factor, and 
the special agent, are all commercial characters, im- 
portantly useful in their several departments in a 
large community; and are justly entitled to a fair 
compensation, for the devotion of their time, their 
skill in the proper management of business, the risks 
they run, the use of their money employed in trade, 
and their expenses incurred. 

The importer receives his remuneration by an ad- 
vance in prices on sales made to the wholesale mer- 
chant, in addition to the cost of his goods at the fo- 



COMMERCE. 199 

reign port, or the shop of the foreign manufacturer. 
The exporter, calculates his profit by the price he ex- 
pects to receive at the foreign market. The whole- 
sale merchant, who buys of the importer by the pack- 
age or bale, and sells to the retailer by smaller quan- 
tities, is compensated by a further advance of price. 
The retailer, who sells in sm.aller fractions, to the 
farmer, mechanic, or householder, is justly entitled 
to a still further advance. The commission merchant, 
who buys and sells in large or small quantities, on 
behalf of others, is compensated by a percentage, 
charged on purchases and sales of goods passing 
through his hands. The factor, w4iose business it is 
to receive and sell, the flour of the miller, the grain 
and other produce of the farm.er, or the goods of the 
manufacturer, is generally paid by a definite rate per 
barrel, or bushel, or by a commission on the amount 
of other goods sold. The special agent, employed 
by another for a specific service, is paid either by a 
stipulated salary or otherwise, in proportion to the 
services rendered. 

All of these, fill honorable stations in society; and 
are indispensable to the most regular and cheapest 
transaction of business in a large and well regulated 
community. 

Several of them are, however, liable, without pru- 
dent care and sound judgment, to commit great mis- 
takes, and thereby subject themselves and their friends 
to losses and distresses som.etimes insurmountable. 

The importer, for instance, if in a season of pros- 
perity, his sales are easily effected, and a handsome 
profit is accumulating in his hands, may yield to the 
temptation presented by his prosperity, to extend his 
orders far beyond the usual amount, in hopes of a con- 
tinuance of the present favorable state of his trade. 
And many being in the same business, and taking the 
same view, may, without a knowledge of the transac- 
tions of each other, run into the same error. 

By these means, the maket becomes greatly over- 
stocked. Sales at the regular profit cannot be effected. 



200 COMMERCE. 

Their engagements requiring money, they are in- 
duced to resort to forced sales, at prices far reduced, 
to the lasting injury of the home manufacturer: and 
after struggling for some time against wind and tide, 
becoming reduced to the necessity of suspending pay- 
ments, are thus, sometimes, involved in complete 
ruin of circumstances. This is what is called over- 
trading. 

The wholesale merchant and retailer, are liable to 
partake deeply of the effects of thesame circumstances. 
Many of them have, perhaps, bought their stock of 
goods, at fair prices from the first arrivals. Others are 
enabled, in consequence of the forced sales afterwards 
made, to purchase at a much lower rate, and by under- 
selling the first, oblige them to reduce their prices be- 
low the cost of purchase; by which they lose not only 
all their labor and expenses, but apart of their capital; 
and often become involved in great difficulty, if not 
impossibility of meeting their payments, and support- 
ing their credit; which are the mainstay, and the life 
of commercial prosperity. 

Dangers attend commercial enterprises in another 
quarter. When the commercial ranks in a commu- 
nity are already filled, it has not been uncommon for 
individuals to press their way into them, without a 
competent kn owledge of the business embraced. These, 
sometimes, for want of skill in purchasing, and from 
other circumstances, soon have found themselves in- 
volved in inextricable difficulties. 

Again, traders under embarrassment, are often 
tempted to take advantages of customers whom they 
sujDj^ose to be ignorant; by extorting unreasonable 
prices, to compensate them in some measure, for 
losses sustained by reduced sales to others. Thus the 
mind, gradually becomes habituated to deception and 
unfair dealing, in opposition to the golden precept, 
which teaches ^* to do unto others as we would wish 
them to do unto us." 

Another kind of character is sometimes to be found 
in the commercial ranks, called a speculator. His 



COMMERCE. 201 

business is, generally, conducted by a kind of cun- 
ning; by which his aim is to discover the lowest 
price of articles at any place within his reach, and 
the highest price to be obtained in any other place; 
and to exercise his supposed sagacity, in discovering 
when any article is likely to rise or fall. By mana- 
ging his purchases and sales upon this principle, he 
is merely engaged in passing commodities from hand 
to hand, without adding any thing to their value, or 
in any manner benefitting the community by his 
trade — utterly regardless who may be the loser if he 
can be the gainer. His station in society cannot -be 
viewed in a light equally honorable with those who 
fill a department necessary or useful in the communi- 
ty. And sometimes, by possessing less skill than he 
imagined, by sudden changes of prices, or other cir- 
cumstances, he becomes involved in difficulties equal 
with either of the former. 

Thus, there appear to be various dangers, attend- 
ing the entering upon commercial pursuits, by young 
mou unacquainted by education with their nature, 
and the disadvantageous circumstances they are lia- 
ble to. And though the old proverb that *' there is 
no general rule without exception,'^ may apply in 
this case, it is commendable, on looking toward com- 
mercial busines for a livelihood, to act with cautious 
deliberation; and rather than pursue a doubtful pros- 
pect, prefer some business of a more simple nature, 
and more free from the perplexities which traders 
often find themselves involved in. 

Though such simpler pursuits, may subject a young 
man to a greater portion of personal labor, they are 
at least equally honorable; and may more certainly 
lead him to independence; attended with a conscious- 
ness, that by his industry, he has essentially contri- 
buted to the stock of national improvement and 
wealth; while those, who, from the hope of gaining 
a more easy livelihood, embark in commerce, with- 
out experience, are often landed in embarrassments 
too great for them ever completely to surmount. 



202 



CHAPTER XXII. 



COMMERCIAL EMPORIUMS. 

In the present notices of commercial cities, a na- 
tional view of them only is intended. Reflection, will, 
it is presumed, confirm the propriety of their being 
thus considered; as by their mutual multiform con- 
nexions in trade with each other, and the more ex- 
tended commerce of the United States with other na- 
tions, in which the concerns of merchants in different 
cities are often combined, an extensive chain of con- 
nexion is formed, binding the interests of the seve- 
ral states together, in a mutual relation, as one ex- 
tended brothorhood. 

Such cities only, as are supposed to participate 
most essentially in this general character, or embrace 
the special interest of several states, are therefore 
here adverted to. In our next book, the cities and 
principal trading towns, will be cited, with relation 
to their importance to the individual states in which 
they are severally located. 

The situations adopted on the first settlement of the 
American colonies, by the fancy, or with a view to 
the convenience, of the early colonists, for the con- 
centration of trade, were not in all instances adhered 
to in after time. 

Some of the places chosen with this intention, were 
afterward, on a more extended view of the country, 
exchanged, by general consent, for such as appeared 
to combine more, and greater, advantages. Other 
instances of early choice, though still adhered to by 
those immediately interested in their localities, have 
been superseded in a general trade, by situations af» 



COMMERCIAL EMPORIUMS. 203 

terward selected by other settlers — the force of na- 
tural circumstances, succeeding, irresistably to draw 
the course of trade to them. 

Thus, though, for the mutual accommodation of ar- 
tizans, handicraft tradesmen, and manufacturers, ne- 
cessary to a community in every stage of its progress, 
villages have been built, and have flourished, in such 
situations as the fancy or the convenience of indivi- 
dual interest has first pointed out, but little aided by 
the influence of any superior general advantage, yet 
commercial cities, never rise to extensive prosperity 
in a free country, by the mere force of individual pre- 
dilection; but their growth and extension are the re- 
sult of such a combination of natural circumstances, 
as spontaneously concentrate the public mind in their 
favor, by the force of the sentiment of general inte- 
rest. 

The cities which have as yet grown up in the 
United States, to extensive commercial importance, 
are comparatively few in number. To their essen- 
tial prosperity, good harbors, and suflicient depth of 
water, for the defence and safe navigation of vessels 
of burden, are indispensable requisites. They are, 
with few exceptions, situated on the tide waters 
communicating directly with the Atlantic ocean. — 
Other situations, however, which now enjoy gene- 
ral advantages in a more limited measure, neverthe- 
less participate in them in an important degree. And 
as the resources and capabilities of our country be- 
come more and more developed, by means of the ex- 
tensive connexions, forming and to be formed, and 
the intercourse which will become established, by 
the agency of canals and other modes of internal 
communication, there can be no doubt, that places far 
distant from each other, and having at present, but 
little, if any intercourse, will in future tim>e, hold 
with each other important relations, partaking largely 
of the nature of those which we advert to in this 
chapter. 



204 



SECTION 1st. 

WASHINGTON CITY. 

Washington city claims our first notice, as hav- 
ing been founded by the national will, — and because, 
as the chosen seat of the national government, it may 
be considered as equally interesting to each state in 
the Union. 

Though not at present a city of much trade, the 
waters of the beautiful and wide spread Potomac, and 
a fine commodious harbour, render it capable of an 
extensive commerce in some future day. 

At present, the trade of the District is chiefly con- 
fined to Georgetown, adjoining to the city, on the 
north side of the Potomac, and the city of x\lexan- 
dria on the opposite side, a few miles down the river. 
These two ports, enjoy a handsome share of the in- 
land trade of Virginia and Maryland; and possess a 
shipping interest, employed in coasting and foreign 
commerce, to an important amount. Though Alex- 
andria has been subjected to overwhelming losses, by 
the seizure of its whole fleets in port, and a large 
amount of private property in store, taken to freight 
them, by the ruthless hand of temporary power, in 
the last military contest with a foreign nation. 

The whole district, may in a sense be considered 
as one commercial department, represented by its 
three distinct important sections; and its commerce, 
may eventually become much more extended, on the 
completion of the Chesapeak and Ohio canal, commen- 
cing within it — the construction of which is now pro- 
gressing. 

We now turn eastward to Boston. 



205 

SECTION 2cl. 

BOSTON. 

Boston is situated on Massachusetts bay, in the 
state of Massachusetts. It enjoys a convenient port 
and good harbour; capable of accommodating at an- 
chor five hundred ships at a time, and communicating 
directly with the ocean; and it carries on a very ex- 
tensive coasting and foreign trade. 

In its vicinity are many large manufacturing estab- 
lishments; and to its market are conveyed, for sale 
and exportation, the produce of the manufactures of 
cotton and wool, of its own and the neighbouring 
states, to a large annual amount. Great quantities of 
manufactured goods are shipped to other parts, in- 
cluding distant foreign ports; and a general public 
sale of those manufactures, is held once or twice in a 
year; when merchants resort from distant states, to 
obtain their supplies. 

It maintains a considerable trade to India; and is 
largely interested in the distant whale and seal fishe- 
ries, and the trade in the articles of their produce; 
as well as in the cod and mackerel fisheries on the 
New England coast, and on the banks of New- 
foundland. 

The soil and climate of the country communicating 
with it, being unfavourable to the production of 
wheat, and producing but partial supplies of other 
grains, it receives much of its bread-stufis from the 
middle states. And for the supply of the neighbour- 
ing manufactories, large quantities of the cotton of 
the south. 

The articles of export trade from this port are mul- 
tiform. Some of the ingenious sons of New England 
in isolated situations, turning their attention to a 
great variety of useful manufactures of minor consi- 
deration, their many small productions arrive at an 
18 



206 NEW YORK. 

important aggregate amount, and are received m 
trade in distant states, under the familiar, but good- 
humoured appellation of '* Yankee notions." 

One article of export, though comparatively small, 
may be deserving of particular notice, as having de- 
rived its origin from the sprightly ingenuity of an in- 
dividual enterprising young female. 

The tasty article of head-dress manufactured from 
straw, denominated Leghorn, prevailed generally 
amongst the girls of her acquaintance; and being at 
that time very expensive, she found her income in- 
sufficient to procure the desired luxury, in addition to 
articles more immediately necessary. She therefore 
adopted the idea, of trying to manufacture one for 
herself. 

Commencing her attempt, and her work improv- 
ing from observation and experience, as she pursued 
her innocently pleasing task, at leisure intervals, 
silently and alone, her head-dress received all the 
gracefulness of customary form, and came out at 
length a beautiful article; when she received a grate- 
ful additional reward for her ingenuity, in the general 
applause of her acquaintance. 

From this singular circumstance and small begin- 
ning, the hint was communicated from town to town, 
and many ingenious and sprightly girls became ma- 
nufacturers; insomuch, that in a very few years, the 
annual amount of exports of the article from Boston, 
arose to many ten thousands of dollars. 



SECTION 3d. 

NEW YORK. 

New York, situated on an island of the same nam.e, 
formerly called by the native inhabitants Manhattan, 
at the junction of the Hudson river, with an arm of 
the sea called East river, is justly considered the 



NEW YORK. 207 

most commanding, and in various respects the most 
important, commercial port in the Union. Its har- 
bour in those two rivers, and in the bay in which 
they unite, is very safe, commodious, and extensive; 
and the amount of shipping employed in its coasting 
and foreign trade, is very large. 

It enjoys a large inland trade, by means of the 
Hudson river and its extensive canals; which form a 
connexion with Canada on the north, and with the 
western states, through lake Erie, on the west. 

The amount of grain, flour, and other produce, re- 
ceived through these channels, is very large; and an- 
nually increasing, as the distant newly settled dis- 
tricts become more and more cultivated. 

Its merchants receive and purchase, a large propor- 
tion of the cotton of the south; which constitutes a 
material part of their export freights to Europe, in 
exchange for the heavy and sometimes excessive im- 
ports from thence. Its merchants being numerous, 
enterprising, and emulous of much business, some- 
times commit excesses, in the introduction of greater 
quantities of European manufactures than are de- 
manded by the national wants; to the injury of our 
rising manufactures, to which we must eventually 
look for independence. 

There is scarcely a port on the globe of which we 
have any accurate knowledge, with which the mer- 
chants of New York do not communicate in trade, 
nor a sea which their vessels do not traverse. 

From its contiguity to the ocean, its harbour is 
very seldom obstructed by ice. This circumstance 
affords it great facilities of communication with other 
ports on the coast, and with foreign nations, at all 
seasons of the year. 

Beside its general commerce, it maintains three 
lines of packets, to London and Liverpool, and one 
to France; — which are large and perfectly constructed 
ships. By means of these, intelligence is despatched 
to and from Europe, at various regular intervals, in 
every month. Those packet ships, have become the 



208 PHILADELPHIA. 

constant objects of praise and admiration, among the 
nations of Europe, on account of the beauty of their 
construction, the admirable symmetry of their parts, 
and the unrivalled elegance of workmanship in their 
finish. 



SECTION 4th. 

PHILADELPHIA. 

Philadelphia, the first city in Pennsylvania, is 
seated on a beautiful elevated plain, in the south-east- 
ern part of the state. It has the river Delaware on 
the east, and Schuylkill on the west. 

This circumstance, affording two extensive fronts 
on navigable tide rivers, of competent depth, and 
furnishing safe and excellent harbours, affords the city 
great conveniences of navigation. 

Its situation is one hundred and twenty miles from 
the ocean, pursuing the courses of the river and bay 
of Delaware. Its navigation is therefore sometimes 
interrupted by ice, from one to two months in the 
winter season. Its trade is nevertheless large and ra- 
pidly increasing — its commercial community abound- 
ing in capital and enterprise, and maintaining a very 
extensive inland communication with the western 
states, as well as an expanded coasting trade, and a 
large commercial intercourse with distant nations — 
its vessels traversing the seas of all quarters of the 
globe. 

Its facilities of internal communication and convey- 
ance of merchandize, are greatly increasing, by the 
use of canals and rail-roads, yearly being completed. 
And its commerce will probably be vastly enlarged 
by those means of transport, when the extensive 
plans designed, and in progress of execution, by the 
state, shall have been completed, and brought into ef- 
fective operation. 



PITTSBURGH. 209 

The inexhaustible mines of iron and coal, abound- 
ing; in the interior of the state, and already made 
easily accessible, by means of canals and rail-roads, 
together with the products of a soil in many districts 
rich, and very productive, furnish large and increas- 
ing augmentations to the trade of Philadelphia. 

Many of its citizens, however, are men who have 
withdrawn from commercial concerns, in circum- 
stances of independence, and who have leisure to de- 
vote a portion of their funds to the improvement and 
beautifying of the city, and the extension of its pub- 
lic works and useful institutions; and many others 
are extensively engaged in manufacturing establish- 
ments, so essential to the independence of a nation; 
and contributing, by furnishing a ready market for 
raw materials, — the growth or produce of other sec- 
tions of the Union, — to the political and commercial 
health and prosperity of the whole, by the system of 
mutual interchanges. 



SECTION 5th. 

PITTSBURGH. 

Pittsburgh, from its location in the western part 
of the state, is emphatically called the emporium of 
western Pennsylvania. It is seated at the junction of 
the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers; which, after 
their union, take the name of the Ohio. 

The navigation of this city, is conducted by the 
use of vessels propelled by the power of steam; which 
traverse the river to its mouth, and thence down the 
Mississippi to New Orleans. By means of this mode 
of transportation, a large amount of heavy produce is 
annually conveyed to New Orleans; and foreign arti- 
cles of commerce, received from Philadelphia, and 
other Atlantic ports, are distributed to their destina- 
tion, in the different states westward and southward. 
18* 



^10 BALTIMORE. 

The active commercial operations of Pittsburgh, it 
is believed, will be much increased on the completion 
of the Pennsylvania line of canals; when much of the 
produce of the western states, which now descends 
from various points of embarkation on the Ohio, to 
New Orleans, may take an opposite direction to 
Pittsburgh; from thence to find its way through the 
canals to Philadelphia. 

It has been proved by fair experiments, that the 
business of ship-building, may be conducted to advan- 
tage at Pittsburgh. By taking the advantage of high 
water in the Ohio, sea vessels completely finished and 
rigged, and freighted with the produce of the coun- 
try, have been conducted down safely to tide water; 
and have thence proceeded to sea, to find a market. 

Before the introduction of steam vessels, the navi- 
gation of the Ohio, and of the Mississippi above its 
tides, was comparatively of little national importance, 
except for a descending trade. The strength of the 
current, offered too great resistance in ascending, for 
the exertions of manual labour to overcome to ad- 
vantage. Now, a well constructed steamboat, laden 
with heavy articles of import, and numerous passen- 
gers, to the aggregate amount of hundreds of tons, 
will sometimes ascend against the current, from New 
Orleans to Pittsburgh — a meandering distance of near- 
ly two thousand miles — in the short space of twelve 
days. A voyage, which formerly required four or 
five months of severe manual labour, in an unloaded 
boat. 



SECTION 6th. 

BALTIMORE. 

Baltimore is situated on an arm of the river Pa- 
tapsco: fifteen miles from its discharge into the west 
side of Chesapeak bay, in the state of Maryland. 



BALTIMORE. .211 

Though from the general circumstances of the 
country naturally communicating with it in trade, 
the site it occupies is admitted to be the most eligi- 
ble in the state, for the location and prosperity of a 
great commercial metropolis, yet it does not appear, 
that the public attention was ever directed to the 
situation with that view, till nearly one hundred and 
fifty years after the settlement of the first colony, on 
the waters of the Chesapeak: its first public notice, 
if not its first foundation, dating about the year 1750. 
Till that time, the native deer were bounding in 
their primeval sportiveness, over the beautiful eleva- 
tions now occupied by its many mansions of taste, 
convenience, and simple elegance. 

Baltimore, now, justly claims an important rank 
in the list of commercial cities; its merchants being 
wealthy, enterprising, and extensively engaged in 
trade; as well inland as foreign, and with the Atlan- 
tic states. 

Its harbour is deep, capacious, and uncommonly 
defended from the influence of storms. But a part 
of the city, embracing a basin of shallower water, 
^ though of sufficient depth for bay and river craft, 
many of the merchants are obliged to employ light- 
ers, for the transport of goods and produce, to and 
from their heavy ships, which lay at the south-east 
part of the city called the Point. 

It has ready access, by means of inland transporta- 
tion, and the great facilities of water carriage, from 
the numerous rivers discharging into the Chesapeak, 
to extensive wheat growing districts, in its own and 
the neighbouring states. And its vicinity abounding 
with powerful waterfalls, occupied by flour mills of 
the most perfect construction, and of great magni- 
tude, means are thus furnished for a large export 
trade in that article. 

The manufacturing interest, is cherished and pro- 
moted by some of the citizens of Baltimore, by active 
and spirited operations; and its commerce, and gene- 



212 NEW ORLEANS. 

ral prosperity, will probably be greatly increased, 
when the rail-road now under construction, and par- 
tially in operation, from this city to Ohio, shall be 
completed. 



SECTION 7th. 

]\EA\ ORLEANS. 

New Orleans, situated on the east side of the 
river Mississippi, about one hundred miles above its 
confluence with the gulf of Mexico, in Louisiana, is 
the great depot of the trade of the Mississippi, and its 
numerous and extensive branches. 

It receives and exports, the heavy agricultural and 
manufactured products of the western states, as well 
as the produce of the lead mines of the Missouri and 
North-western territories. The cotton of Louisiana, 
Mississippi, and Alabama, are exported from it to 
Europe, and to supply the manufacturers of the east- 
ern and middle states, to the amount of many thou- 
sands of bales annually. It has also a large export 
trade in sugars; the produce of the contiguous cane 
growing regions. 

It is liable, in consequence of the generally de- 
pressed level of the lands in its vicinity, to the over- 
flowings of the Mississippi. 

This river, by reason of its great length, and the 
immense accumulation of waters from its tributary 
rivers, rises at certain seasons, to an appalling height: 
overflowing the level grounds on its borders, to a 
great extent. 

The city is defended from the influx of those mighty 
fresh water tides, by extensive embankments, artifi- 
cially thrown up for the purpose. These embank- 



STEAM NAVIGATION. 213 

ments, are, in the dialect of the country, called "le- 
vees. " They extend to a great distance above and 
below the city, and are maintained at a heavy ex- 
pense of labor; and sometimes, when they are sud- 
denly broken, by an uncommon rise of the waters, 
the most vigorous exertions are required to repair 
them, and prevent disastrous consequences. 

Much of the commerce of New Orleans is conduct- 
ed by means of the shipping belonging to other ports 
in the Union, and to foreign nations. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Steam navigation has now become so familiar, 
that little information may be necessary, to afford the 
student or youth, a general idea of the movements of 
a steamboat. 

The first person who made an attempt, with any 
degree of success, to navigate a vessel propelled by 
steam, in the United States, as appears by accounts 
preserved, was named Fitch. 

Another American adventurer in the same field, 
about the same time, was named Rumsey; who went 
to England, and was engaged in a long pursuit of the 
same subject, under the patronage of David Barclay, 
of London. His adventure, however, finally failed 
of success. 

Fitch procured his boat to be built at Philadelphia, 
and succeeded so far as to make one voyage to Bur- 
lington, in New Jersey — a voyage of twenty miles. 

By this first, rough, untutored attempt, the practi- 
cability of the design was demonstrated. But expe- 



214 STEAM NAVIGATION. 

rience, the most efficient instructor, not having yet 
taught the artist correctly to adapt the machinery 
employed to the power of his principle of motion, 
nor duly to proportion the strength of the different 
parts to each other, another effort was necessary to his 
success. And being poor, and not sufficiently aided, 
he was obliged, though with great reluctance, to 
abandon his design for want of patronage. 

Such is the hesitancy of the human character, to 
afford the means for genius to exercise its powers, 
in any great enterprise which is entirely new; and 
which, from any considerable degree of complexity, 
may, to those who are not qualified to reason scienti- 
fically, involve a doubt of eventual success. The 
scheme of Fitch, being then generally considered as 
visionary and altogether unpromising. 

Sometime after the failure of Fitch, the subject at- 
tracted the attention of several ])ersons in New York 
and its vicinity. These were chancellor Livingston, 
John Stevens, and Nicholas Roosvelt. The two first, 
pursued their experiments separately for a time. — 
They afterward joined their interests in connexion 
with the last. Livingston, being sent to France, on 
a diplomatic mission under the government, their 
joint proceedings were interrupted. He, however, 
carried with him a sanguine expectation of final suc- 
cess: and at Paris was joined by Robert Fulton, a na- 
tive citizen of Lancaster county, in Pennsylvania, 
whose mind had, for some years, often been intense- 
ly occupied upon the same subject. 

Fulton, during his engagement at Paris, by expe- 
riments, and arduous examinations, was enabled to ar- 
rive at such satisfactory conclusions with respect to 
some of his principles, as experience alone could fur- 
nish. His boat being at length prepared, was launch- 
ed upon the river Seine, and performed its move- 
ments in exact correspondence with his previous cal- 
culations. He now hastened to superintend the con- 
struction of a boat at New York; with many im- 
provements in his machinery, which his experience. 



STEAM NAVIGATION. 215 

already acquired, had suggested; and after a period of 
intense application, exposed to the discouragements 
thrown out by the doubter, and the ridicule of the 
staunch unbeliever, success at length crowned his ■ 
labors. 

When he supposed every thing was ready for a per- 
fect experiment, and the people w^ere assembled in 
crowds, to witness the grand result, his first attempt 
at progressive movement was unsuccessful. This 
must have been to him a moment of intense anxiety. 
The eyes of the assembled multitudes were upon 
him; and many, no doubt, prepared to pronounce in 
derision, that their w^ise predictions were now real- 
ized. He, however, maintained the composure of a 
philosopher; and stepping below, he at once discover- 
ed the cause of his disappointment; which arose en- 
tirely from some trifling inaccuracy of adjustment in 
a part of his machinery. Having quickly corrected 
this small, inadvertent oversight, his vessel glided off 
from its moorings in fine style, to the utter disappoint- 
ment of the unbelievers, and no doubt to the joy of 
his friends, and his ow^n high gratification. The un- 
believers themselves then joining in loud applause. 

In the mean time, Stevens, aided by his son, had 
been pursuing his experiments at Hoboken, and was 
enabled to bring his boat into successful operation but 
a few days after the complete success of Fulton. 

Fulton continued to devote his attention to im- 
provements of his machinery, and had arrived to a 
point in the science approaching to its present state of 
perfection, when he died, in the prime and vigor of 
intellectual manhood; though w^orn down in consti- 
tution by intense application. He is now considered 
in every circle of enlightened society as a great bene- 
factor to his country. 

Thus it appears, that the successful application of 
steam to the purposes of navigation is clearly ascri- 
bable to the efforts of American genius and enterprise. 
And though attempts have been made by one at least 
of the mechanists of Europe, to arrogate to himself 



216 STEAM NAVIGATION. 

the honor of the invention; his statements have been 
completely invalidated; and it is clearly manifest, that 
the first successful steamboat built in Great Britain, has 
its date five years after the complete success of Fulton, 
and after full time had elapsed for an examination of 
our American machinery. The rate of movement of 
the swiftest European steamboats, continues to the 
present time, to be five miles per hour behind the 
speed of some of our American boats. 

The science of constructing steamboats, is now 
brought to such perfection, and is so well understood, 
by many skilful mechanics and engineers, that thou- 
sands of persons are regularly employed in the United 
States, in the construction of boats and their machine- 
ry. And the art is still undergoing improvements and 
simplifications, intended to render the design yet more 
perfect. 

The use of steam navigation has become so exten- 
sive, and the construction of vessels has attained such 
perfection that rivers of strong currents are now navi- 
gated with ease, and to great advantage, which were 
formerly of little use as respects navigation, except 
to float down lumber, or vessels of such simple con- 
struction as fitted them only to descend with the cur- 
rent, and never return. The gain to the community 
from the power of steam, and its application to this 
and other objects for propelling machinery, is, there- 
fore, beyond calculation. 

The number of steam vessels engaged on the Mis- 
sissippi and its branches, alone, is estimated at up- 
wards of three hundred, and the sum is constantly in- 
creasing. Some of them are built of the size of five 
hundred tons burden. By the agency of this inven- 
tion, the Mississippi has become one of the most im- 
portant rivers in the world. The means of a con- 
venient and profitable ascending navigation, on it and 
its branches, having been gained to the community, 
to an aggregate amount, perhaps exceeding six thou- 
sand miles. 



CANALS. 217 

Beside the introduction of the steamboat into all 
the navigable waters of the United States, the use of 
steam has been in some cases applied to vessels on 
long sea voyages. It appears, however, that the in- 
crease of expense is too great to admit of the general 
use of steam on such voyages. In these cases, the 
ships are furnished with masts and sails, to be used 
when the winds are brisk and favorable; reserving 
their steam powers for contrary circumstances. By 
these means they are enabled to keep constantly un- 
der way in their proper courses, except during the 
prevalence of severe storms. 

The application of steam to the purposes of naviga- 
tion, has now become extensive in Europe. 

The use of steam, for propelling flour mills, and 
other manufacturing machinery, has been profitably 
resorted to in cities, and other situations, where con- 
venient waterfalls cannot be easily and cheaply ob- 
tained. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
CANALS. 

The youth will no doubt be aware, that a canal is 
an artificial water course, so formed as to maintain a 
level for the passage of boats, unobstructed by rocks, 
shoals, rapids, or cataracts; one or more of which 
kinds of obstruction, are generally found in rivers 
where the tides do not flow. By this contrivance, 
boats pass with equal ease and safety in either direc- 
tion. 

When it becomes necessary to pass any considera- 
ble descent on the site of a canal, a convenient pro- 
vision for the purpose is attained, by the construction 
of locks. 

19 



218 CANALS. 

A lock is a strong basin, formed by cemented stone 
walls, or by tight wood work, and having a gate at 
each end. The bottom of it is sunk below the bottom 
of the canal v>'hich supplies it, to such deptli as is ne- 
cessary, to adapt it to the level of the lot^er section 
of the canal passing from it — say eight, ten, or twelve 
feet. 

When a boat is required to be passed down, ti^^ 
lower gate is shut, and the upper gate opened. Th^.^ 
lock being thus filled, even with the level of the uj)- 
per section, the boat passes into it. The upper gat. 
is then closed, to retain the water in the upper sec- 
tion of the canal. The lower gate being opened, as 
the water passes out into the lower section of the 
canal, the boat gradually settles down with it, till 
having attained the level of the lower section, the 
boat pursues its voyage. 

When the boat is required to ascend, the move- 
ments are partly reversed. The boat passing into the 
empty lock from below, the lower gate is shut, and 
the upper opened as before, when, as the lock fdls 
from the upper section, the boat gradually rises with 
it, till it attains the upper level, and passing out of 
the lock proceeds on its way. 

When the amount of ascent or descent to be over- 
come, exceeds the quantity most convenient for one 
lock, several are formed in connexion; and thus, by 
multiplying the locks to the number required, a boat 
may be made to ascend or descend, a perpendicular 
distance of one hundred or two hundred feet, with 
perfect ease and safety, in a short time. 

The youth will readily perceive, that it is always 
necessary, that a canal shall receive an adequate sup- 
ply of water on the highest level over which it has to 
pass. But as, when a canal is once filled, its banks 
secured from leaking, and its soil saturated with wa- 
ter, there will be no waste of water except by the 
natural evaporation from its surface, and the amount 
necessarily let out on passing the locks, streams com- 
paratively small, are found sufficient to supply them. 



CANALS. 219 

Thus, inland rivers and smaller streams, which, 
from their insufficiency of water, and the obstructions 
in their natural channels, would be altogether inade- 
quate to the smallest useful purpose of navigation, 
are made effectually to supply the means of a large, 
extensive, and profitable inland transportation, to the 
great benefit of the community. And thus, from the 
abundant supply of natural streams, might this mode 
of conveyance be multiplied in a thousand directions, 
where the advantages to be derived might be supposed 
to justify the expenses of their construction. 

Canal boats are generally propelled by the power 
of horses travelling on their banks, and attached to 
the boats by means of long hempen ropes. The 
strength of one horse thus attached, is found to be 
equal to the propelling of a boat bearing a burden of 
fourteen tons weight, at the rate of three miles in an 
hour. Thus it appears, that so vast is the difference 
between the transport of produce and merchandize on 
a canal, and the transport by common wagons, that 
one horse will perform a service on the former, equal 
to forty or fifty horses on a common inland road. 

It may be easily supposed, how greatly the value 
of lands, on, or near, the line of a canal, far distant 
from a market, would be advanced by the expense of 
conveyance of produce to market being so greatly 
reduced. 

In hilly countries,- canals are frequently carried 
across rivers by aqueducts, supported upon strong 
stone arches, and sometimes greatly elevated above 
the beds of the rivers over which they pass. In other 
cases they are conducted through apertures, exca- 
vated by great labour and expense, through the bow- 
els of mountains, which cross their lines; presenting 
difficulties which cannot be otherwise overcome. 
These perforations are called tunnels. In some in- 
stances they extend to many hundred feet, if not to 
the amount of miles. They are necessarily lighted 
b}^ lamps, and are at certain intervals, ventilated by 
openings, called shafts, descending perpendicularly 



220 CANALS. 

from the surface of the mountain, till they communi- 
cate with the tunnels. Without this precaution, the 
atmosphere in the tunnels would often endanger the 
lives of the passengers, by reason of its impurity, 
occasioned by gaseous mixtures, unfitted for healthy 
respiration. 

In England, canals are multiplied to an aggregate 
extent nearly or quite equal to those in the United 
States. These have all been constructed since the 
year 1759, and the most of them at periods many 
years later than that date. In France, the great canal 
of Languedoc, of two hundred miles in length, is 
more than one hundred years old. Some of the vastly 
extensive canals of China, are understood to have 
been in use for nearly one thousand years. In the 
United States, much the greater proportion of our 
canals, have been planned and executed, within the 
last ten, fifteen, and twenty years. 

So far as is discoverable from public notices, the 
first canal constructed in the United States, for the 
purposes of navigation, was undertaken about fifty 
years ago, by a private company. It is located in 
Cecil county, Maryland, near the Pennsylvania line, 
and was designed to overcome the difficulties of the 
Baldfriar Falls, in the river Susquehanna. Its length 
is but about seven miles; yet, as the science of con- 
structing canals was then new in this country, and as 
the necessary funds were less abundant than at pre- 
sent, some years were required to complete it. The 
engineer engaged in its construction, was James 
Brindle}^, — a near connexion of Brindley, the emi- 
nent artist, who planned and perfected, the great ca- 
nal of the duke of Bridgewater, in England. 

The great western canal of New York, connecting 
the Hudson river with lake Erie, exceeds three hun- 
dred and sixty miles in length. It was nevertheless 
finished in a few years; having been undertaken by 
the government of the state, and the expenses defray- 
ed from the state treasury. Another important sec- 



CANALS. 221 

tion connects the Hudson with lake Champlain, open- 
ing a water communication with Canada. 

The canal connecting the Delaware and Chesapeak 
bays, is a great work, though only about fourteen 
miles in length. The excavation necessary on the 
middle ground, to make it so deep as to pass the 
sloops used in the trade of those bays, was carried to 
the depth of seventy feet below the surface: and the 
whole construction in general, was attended with 
very great difficulties. It has, however, been brought 
into successful operation; realizing very important 
benefits to the trade connected with those bays and 
their various rivers. 

A canal has been formed, opening an inland com- 
munication, between Norfolk in Virginia, and Albe- 
marle sound in North Carolina. This work, beside 
forming an inland communication between the two 
states, opens a pass through an extensive dense forest 
of the best white cedar; otherwise scarcely accessi- 
ble. The part where it is situated is the Great Dis- 
mal Swamp, a place of resort for wild beasts. So 
much of it being immersed in water, and all passage 
so obstructed by deep cavities and sunken timber, 
and the vegetable growth so dense withal, that access 
into the heart of the district, for the conveyance of 
timber, by any other common means, was compara- 
tively impossible. Much has been done in Virginia 
to improve and connect by canals of greater and less 
extent several of the fine rivers flowing through 
the state; and still more extensive plans have been 
devised. 

The formation of a canal is now in progress, in- 
tended to connect the tide water of the Potomac, at 
Washington city, with the waters of the Ohio — a dis- 
tance of three hundred and sixty miles. 

Another canal is now under construction across 
New Jersey, to connect the Raritan and Delaware 
rivers, and forming an important section of an exten- 
sive line of internal transport, between the eastern 
and southern states. 
19* 



222 RAIL-ROADS. 

In Pennsylvania, beside the Schuylkill canal of 
one hundred and eight miles in length, and the Union 
canal of nearly eighty miles, connecting the Susque- 
hanna with the Schuylkill, which have both been 
completed by private companies, an extensive plan of 
canalling has been adopted by the state, and the form- 
ation of the different sections, either completed, or in 
a forward state of progression. The plan is intend- 
ed, beside extensively improving the navigation of 
different rivers, to connect the eastern with the west- 
ern waters of the state, and thence with lake Erie. 

Several canals are far advanced in construction, or 
nearly completed, in the state of Ohio, intended to 
open a navigation through the state, from lake Erie 
to Ohio river. 

Many other canals have been formed in different 
parts of the Union, within a few years. But to at- 
tempt to name them all in this place, would be tedi- 
ous and unentertaining. They are so numerous in 
some parts of the Union, as to have become familiar 
subjects of common observation. Any attempt to 
describe them all at the present time, would probably 
be far from a complete description a few years hence. 
Our present observations, being intended only to con- 
vey general ideas, the task is perhaps now fulfilled. 
We will therefore close this chapter, with stating, 
that the whole present aggregate length of canalling 
in the United States, including those completed, and 
those now in rapid progress toward completion, is es- 
timated at the amount of twenty-six hundred miles. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

RAILROADS. 

Though the principle of the rail-road was adopted 
at som>e of the coal mines of England more than one 
hundred and fifty years ago, the design of construct- 



RAIL-ROADS. 223 

ing rail-roads, for facilitating the general transporta- 
tion of produce and merchandize from one part to 
another, does not appear to have been conceived till 
after much had been done in the construction of ca- 
nals. The plan is now, however, believed by many, 
to combine greater advantages than the use of canals. 

When a rail-road is designed, a track for its pas- 
sage is sought, the nearest to a level which can be 
conveniently found, between the points it is intended 
to connect. The operators then proceed to reduce 
the inequalities of the ground, by cutting down ele- 
vations, and filling up depressed parts, and thus bring- 
ing the whole line to a common level; or so near to 
a level, that the inequalities, if any, shall amount to 
but little inconvenience. This they call ^^ grading." 

When the ground is thus levelled and prepared, a 
solid foundation is laid, for the track of each wheel of 
the carriages to be employed; and on those founda- 
tions, bars of iron are secured, passing lengthwise the 
whole distance of the road. The wheels of the car- 
riages, called cars, are so formed, as to secure them 
from passing off from the iron bars. 

Thus, by reducing the ascents and descents of the 
road to a common level, the resistance of weight is 
in a great measure overcome. And by fixing the 
axles of the wheels in a peculiar manner upon rollers, 
the friction, usual in the running of carriages, is near- 
ly destroyed. 

By these means, one horse will move a weight 
with ease, at the rate of six miles in an hour, which 
would require the force of twelve or fourteen horses, 
to move with equal ease, on a common road, in com- 
mon wagons, at the rate of three miles in an hour. 

By the use of a steam engine, instead of horse 
power, a weight of almost any amount, bearing a rea- 
sonable proportion to the power of the engine, can be 
moved at a rate so rapid as to exceed all other travel- 
ling, unless it were upon the wings of an eagle. 

In this case, the steam engine and its machinery, 
are placed upon a car provided for the purpose, and 



iiii4 RAIL-ROADS. 

the weight to be carried disposed upon a number of 
cars, attached to each other upon a line; the foremost 
being fastened to the engine car. 

Thus have weights been carried to the amount of 
fifteen tons to one engine, at a rate approaching to, 
if not exceeding, twenty miles in an hour. And cal- 
culators assert with confidence, that travelling car- 
riages may be made to move with safety at a rate ex- 
ceeding fift}' miles in an hour!!! 

That such a rate of movemient could never, on any 
extraordinary occasion, be justified, upon principles 
of rationality, would, perhaps, be too bold an asser- 
tion: but, of the propriety of ever reducing it to a 
common practice, the Christian philosopher may well 
be permitted to entertain a doubt. 

When man was placed by his all-wise Creator in 
the occupancy of this our earth, his powers of motion 
were adapted to the circumstances surrounding him, 
and his capacities, in his different situations and cir- 
cumstances, wisely proportioned to each other. 

While we fully admit, that it consists with pro- 
priety in his station, to exercise his rational powers, 
in the improvement of the useful arts and sciences, 
as instruments intended to minister to his comforts, 
and promote his rational enjoyments — amongst which 
the construction and reasonable use of rail-roads may 
be fairly considered an important and very interesting 
item — there may be room for the reflecting mind to 
conclude, that the providential intention could never 
be supposed to justify efforts on the part of man, for 
the sake of rapidly doing a great business, — a busi- 
ness beyond all the reasonable demands of his neces- 
sities, — to adopt a rate of motion in some of his 
movements, so far beyond his usual natural capacity; 
especially when attended with unavoidable dangers. 

When we see the noble horse, compelled to move 
at a rate which we know will injure his natural powers, 
oppress his life, and painfully substract from his ani- 
mal enjoyments, we view the circumstance as an evi- 
dence of at least a reckless levity of character, if not 



RAIL-ROADS. 225 

of a disposition of heedless cruelty, on the part of his 
oppressors; who seem to be actuated by a trifling, 
vain ambition, to exceed each other in celerity of mo- 
tion, without any other apparent inducement to such 
a conduct. 

Excesses, in all cases in the human economy, may 
be considered as calculated to lead either directly or 
consequently, into some degree of disorder. And al- 
though, in the use of steam, the circumstance of ani- 
mal oppression is removed, yet such unnatural rapidi- 
ty of motion in some cases, might, perhaps, have a 
natural tendency to urge the mind on, into an habi- 
tual state of hurry and turmoil in business; and thus 
our lives might become a scene of bustle and ex- 
cessive haste, by no means adapted to that course of 
thought and reflection, becoming beings possessing 
powers so limited, and of duration so uncertain; and 
who are bound, by our own incalculable interests, to 
prepare for a happy admission into a state of being, 
where disorder and irregularity of conduct cannot 
enter. 

We have, however, reason to believe, that the sup- 
posed rate of travelling would soon become its own 
corrector; because, notwithstanding the calculations 
of those interested, there must inevitably, be serious 
dangers of various kinds, attendant on such a rate of 
movement. 

Several extensive rail-roads have been planned, and 
are now in a course of construction, besides many of 
less extent, in difierent parts of the Union. One of 
the longer now forming, is designed to pass from Phi- 
ladelphia to Columbia, on the Susquehanna — a dis- 
tance of eighty-five miles. Another, of three hun- 
dred and fifty miles, now in a state of forwardness to- 
ward completion, is designed to form a line of trans- 
portation between the city of Baltimore and the state 
of Ohio. The spirited exertions of our southern 
brethren, are now engaged in the construction of an- 
other, of one hundred miles, to connect the thriving 
and important town of Augusta, in Georgia, with 



226 RAIL ROADS. 

Charleston, the capital trading city of South Carolina: 
as a substitute for a meandering boat navigation of 
three hundred miles to Savannah. 

As has been said with respect to canals, rail-roads 
and plans for their location are becoming so nume- 
rous in the Union, that it would be a vain attempt to 
give such general account of them as would be likely 
to be adapted to a period a few years hence. But our 
present intention of a general sketch of the subject is 
conceived to be sufficiently fulfilled. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

WATERFALLS, MEDICINAL 
SPRINGS, AND CURIOSITIES. 



The Falls of Niagara have been brief!}' noticed in 
another chapter, under the head "Waters." In ad- 
dition to what has there been stated, we may remark, 
that these falls are considered as so far surpassing in 
sublimity of grandeur, all other objects of the kind, 
as to leave them as it were involved in comparative 
littleness. 

The roar of the cataract is so heavy, as often to be 
heard, according as the current of air and the state of 
the atmosphere ma}' favor the progress of sound, to a 
distance of from fifteen to forty miles. 

The concussion is so great, as to keep the earth for 
a considerable distance round, in a continual jar, as 
of an earthquake; and the windows of the buildings 
near it, rattling, as we find them in the case of the 
heaviest thunder, breaking at a distance. The noise 



WATERFALLS 227 

at the houses of entertainment near it, is so great, as 
to require more than common exertion of voice, to 
he intelligibly heard in conversation. 

On a fine day, when the position of the sun and the 
visitor, are relatively in the proper points, several per- 
fect rainbows, of great brilliancy, may be seen at once, 
upon the dense cloud formed from the spray, always 
ascending to a great height, from the vast abyss into 
which the body of water is constantly pouring itself. 

The falls of the Missouri, in the vicinity of the 
Rocky Mountains, were discovered by captains Lewis 
and Clarke, when on their exploring tour to the Pa- 
cific, under a commission from our executive govern- 
ment, in the year 1805. 

The cataract is divided into many distinct sections, 
at a considerable distance from each other, on the 
windings of the river through the mountainous ele- 
vations. The greatest perpendicular descent, is stated 
at eighty-seven feet, and the two next greatest at 
forty-seven and eighth-twelfths, and nineteen feet 
respectiveh^ But the rapid descent of the river, 
between and from them, together with a number 
of beautiful smaller cataracts, increases the whole 
amount of descent to three hundred and fifty-two 
feet, in the distance of two miles and three-quarters 
— the river being from three hundred to fourteen hun- 
dred yards wide, in its difierent parts. 

The roar of the water is heard at a great distance, 
before its cause can be discovered. The whole scene 
is represented, as presenting many adaiirable pros- 
pects, from the different views from the surrounding 
mountains, which intercept the prospect from one 
cataract to another; causing them to iDreak upon the 
vision, under a variety of very interesting aspects. 

On the whole, the cataracts of the Missouri, with 
their surrounding scenery, are represented as next, 
in sublimity and grandeur, to the scenes presented at 
the great cataract of Niagara. 

The falls of St. Anthony, on the Mississippi, near 
the forty-fifth degree of latitude, are presented to the 



228 WATERFALLS. 

beholder under very different circumstances. At this 
fall are no surrounding mountains. The perpendicu- 
lar pitch of the water is represented by lieutenant 
Pike to be sixteen and a half feet: but the sloping de- 
scent of the river occurring immediately at the bot- 
tom of the cataract, increases the fall to fifty-eight 
feet. The surrounding scenery, forming a fine varie- 
gated landscape, with but little elevation of the banks 
of the river, and the southern prospect, extending 
many miles over a beautiful sloping country, render 
the whole view a very interesting scene, of great pic- 
turesque beauty, rather than of sublimity and gran- 
deur. 

Many other cataracts, and cascades, are to be found 
in the United States, which are interesting, and wor- 
thy of a traveller's attention; but which, from the 
comparative smallness of the streams, or the smaller 
amount of descent, are less the objects of general in- 
terest. A brief notice of some of them, without de- 
scending to minute description, will be all we shall 
here attempt 

The cataract of the Mohawk, near Albany, has a 
perpendicular descent of about sixty feet. This is 
often called by its Indian name, — '^The Cohoes. " It 
is a very pleasing object. 

The falls of the Passaick, at the town of Patterson, 
in New Jersey, of seventy feet perpendicular, pre- 
sents a view of interesting grandeur on a moderate 
scale. It affords a very eligible seat for extensive 
manufacturing establishments, in successful operation. 

The falls of the Genessee river, in the state of New 
York, embrace a descent of one hundred and seventy 
feet by several cataracts in the space of about two or 
three miles, and furnish an opportunity seldom equal- 
ed in any country, for a line of very powerful mill- 
seats; some of which are occupied by large flour mills, 
and others by extensive manufactories. 

There are several interesting falls in the southern 
states. The Tochoa creek rises among the southern 
terminations of the Alleghany mountains, in Geor- 



WATERFALLS AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS. 229 

gia, and leaving them, is precipitated in one perpen- 
dicular sheet, one hundred and eighty-seven feet; 
though when the water is low, the whole sheet, be- 
fore it reaches the bottom, is separated into particles, 
resembling fine rain. 

Among the mountain terminations in the northern 
extremit}^ of South Carolina, there are said to be seve- 
ral instances of like nature. The Catawba river, in 
one part of its course, descends by several cataracts 
nearly connected, to a distance of one hundred feet. 

Upon some of the rivers of the east, in the hilly 
regions of several of the states, are rapids and cata- 
racts; sublime, though in miniature, as compared with 
some of the preceding. In a country much devoted 
to the manufacturing interest, they afford very valua- 
ble sites for establishments of this character. 

Medicinal springs, the waters of which hold in so- 
lution different proportions and combinations of the 
various mineral substances with which waters of a 
medicinal character are commiOnly impregnated, are 
numerous in the United States. Some of them are 
much frequented by persons of deficient health; and 
the patients often receive decided benefit from their 
use. 

At some of them are places of resort for the gay 
and fashionable part of the community, in the sum- 
mer months; where hundreds, or thousands, accord- 
ing to the comparative degrees of fame the different 
places may have attained, form an ever fluctuating so- 
ciety, by the constant arrival of new guests, and the 
departure of those who preceded them. 

The most noted and most frequented of those places 
of public resort, are understood to be those of Sarato- 
ga and Balston, in New York, within a circle of thir- 
ty-three miles from Albany — the numerous highly 
valuable medicinal springs among the mountains of 
Virginia; issuing their waters of various temperature 
from hot to cold; much varied in their medicinal qua- 
lities; and of great efficacy in many diseases — and the 
20 



230 MEDICINAL SPRINGS AND CURIOSITIES, 

famous Indian springs of Georgia; situated in a most 
romantic position; partly enclosed by hills, and sur- 
rounded by embowering native groves. The scene- 
ry surrounding the last, and the accommodations pro- 
vided for the numerous resident invalid visitors, who 
go there to spend the summer, are said, by a highly 
estimable and accomplished citizen of the state, to 
^'present at once, all the comforts of civilized, and 
all the romance of untamed life." The place is par- 
ticularly famous for having been the treaty ground of 
many treaties, between the agents of our government 
and the southern Indian tribes. 

The mineral springs of York and Chester counties, 
in Pennsylvania, of New Castle county, in Delaware, 
and many others, in different states eastward and 
Vv'estward, have yet attained but a secondary degree 
of celebrity. Perhaps more from accidental circum- 
stances than from a general inferiority of medicinal 
value in the waters. 

Amongst the natural curiosities of the United States, 
may be reckoned the caverns, abounding in many of 
our mountainous and limestone regions. As the rivers 
and mountains of America, exceed in magnitude and 
extent, those of the old world generally, the same 
may be said of some of our natural caverns; though 
from their late discovery, and the resolution required 
to penetrate, and examine their various windings, they 
have not been so minutely described, or so familiar in 
the annals of fame, as several of those in Europe. 
Some of them have been reported to be of the asto- 
nishing extent of from three to nine or ten miles, fol- 
lowing their windings, though others, perhaps, not 
exceeding a few hundred yards. 

Those which are the most extensive, have gene- 
rally several apartments, branching off from their 
sides; and from some of these again, winding pas- 
sages, through several magnificent chambers, and 
again connecting perhaps, with the principal caverns, 
at a great distance. 



NATURAL CURIOSITIES, &C. 231 

In passing their different windings, the adventurer 
is occasionally surprised, and astonished, to find him- 
self suddenly introduced into halls resembling pa- 
laces, of amazing height and extent; ornamented with 
massive columns, formed by the gradual accumula- 
tion and adhesion of particles of lime, spreading over 
them in a dissolved state, by the continual gentle drip- 
ping of water from the ceilings; and adorned with 
semi-transparent festoons, of every fanciful form, and 
sparkling with brilliancy, reflected from the ten thou- 
sand surfaces presented to the light of the conductor 
and adventurer's lamps. 

The most extensive of these caverns yet discover- 
ed, are situated in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Indiana, and Georgia. They do not all partake of 
those characters of surpassing grandeur. Some of 
them are merely dark, subterraneous passages and 
chambers, abounding with nitrous incrustations; which 
might be collected from several of them in large quan- 
tities as an article of commerce. There are many 
caves of less extent, in several other states of the 
Union. 

In the Alleghany mountain in Virginia, is a cave, 
from the mouth of which is constantly issuing, a cur- 
rent of air sufficiently strong to keep prostrate the 
weeds in its passage, to the distance of fifty or sixty 
feet from the entrance of the cave. It is called the 
blowing cave. 

As another class of American curiosities, may be 
noted, the ancient fortifications, presenting them- 
selves in various parts of the western states. They 
appear to have been generally formed of strong em- 
bankments of earth, though some have been discover- 
ed, a large part of which have been constructed with 
stone walls, connected together with a very consider- 
able appearance of art. Many of them appear to 
have been formed for large encampments, capable of 
accommodating many hundreds of persons within their 
walls. They are generally laid out with what may 
perhaps be termed a competent share of mathema- 



232 NATURAL CURIOSITIES, &C. 

tical accuracy and proportion; the angles being cor- 
rectly defined, and corresponding with the cardinal 
points of the compass. 

The largest trees are found growing upon their 
ruins; and no traces of their history, can, so far as has 
yet appeared, be gleaned, from any rational tradition 
of the present Indian population. 

The varied sublime prospects presenting from the 
tops of many of our mountains, may perhaps be reck- 
oned as curiosities of American scenery. To attempt 
a description of many of them, does not come within 
our present plan. 

The lofty eminence, called the Pilot Mountain of 
North Carolina, is represented as furnishing a sample 
of the sublime of this character of objects seldom 
equalled. The mountain rises in the form of a pyra- 
mid, to nearly a mile in height, when its upper sur- 
face would present a circular flat of about an acre. — 
Upon this platform, suddenly rises a vast rock, con- 
tinuing its conical form to the height of above three 
hundred feet, and presenting itself as the appearance 
of an immense castle, on the top as flat as a floor. It 
can be ascended by a single pass, through the crags 
and fissures of the rock. When on the top, a vastly 
extended prospect of uncommon grandeur is enjoyed; 
embracing the Apalachian Mountains on the north, a 
great extent of plain on the south, and a river on each 
hand, winding their way to the ocean. 

The natural bridge, over a branch of James river, 
in Rockbridge county, Virginia, is justly ranked 
amongst our natural curiosities. It consists of a solid 
arch of rock, supported by natural abutments on the 
banks. The breadth of the passage across the stream, 
exceeds sixty feet; and the stone arch is covered with 
a suflicient dep-th of earth to support trees of a large 
size. 

The elevation of the bridge above the stream, is 
two hundred and ten feet. The view of the structure 
from below, is awfully and delightfully grand; though 
to look down from the top, into the rugged, craggy. 



NATURAL CURIOSITIES, &C. 233 

romantic chasm, which forms the bed of the river, 
inspires the beholder with sensations of such terrific 
character, as to prevent enjoyment; and few persons 
possess sufficient firmness of nerve, to approach the 
edge of the perpendicular precipice, near enough to 
attempt a fair view downward. 

In Scott county, Virginia, a bridge of a similar cha- 
racter, is represented to be three hundred feet high; 
passing over a branch of Tennessee river, to an extent 
of one thousand feet. 

Several bridges of similar, though much less stu- 
pendous structure, are found in other states. 

A description of the natural and artificial curiosities, 
found in different parts of the Union, might be extend- 
ed to a great length; embracing romantic scenery upon 
a large scale, observable at the passes of noble rivers 
through and amongst rugged mountains — deep lakes 
upon the summits of eminences, three or four thousand 
feet above the sea — burning springs — ever enduring 
ice in the mild latitude of thirty-nine degrees, and 
surrounded by the beauteous verdure of summer*— 
remains of Indian antiquities — and many other arti- 
cles. But much minute description our plan will not 
admit. A notice of some of the curiosities observed 
in the state of Tennessee, has very recently appeared, 
in the twelfth volume of the Encyclopaedia America- 
na; from which we take the liberty to subjoin an ex- 
tract, as a conclusion to the present chapter. It will 
serve to mark the character of some of our American 
antiquities. 

*' On some spurs of the Cumberland mountains, are 
marked in solid limestone, the footsteps of men, 
horses, and other animals, as fresh as if recently 
made, and as distinct as if impressed upon clay mor- 
tar. Similar tracks were found in a block of solid 
limestone quarried on the margin of the Mississippi. 
Near the southern boundary of the state, are three 

* Allusion is here had to a mountain in Virginia, on the north side 
of which, by removing the loose stones to the depth of two or three feet 
a body of ever enduring ice may be at any time found. 
20* 



234 LINES OF MEASUREMENT. 

trees entirely petrified. One is a Cypress, four feet 
in diameter; one a Sycamore; and the third a Hicko- 
ry. Prodigious claws, teeth, and bones, of animals, 
are found near the salines. Some of these bones are 
perfect, and indicate an animal twenty feet high. A 
nest of eggs of the wild turkey, have been dug up in 
a state of petrifaction. Walls of faced stone, and even 
walled wells, have been found in many places, w^hich 
are undoubtedly the work of a remote generation. In 
this state, as well as in Missouri, are ancient burying 
grounds, where the skeletons seem all to have been 
pigmies. Even the graves in which the bodies are 
deposited, are seldom more than two or two and a 
half feet long, and (yet) the teeth shew that these 
skeletons are skeletons of adults. Jugs, vases, idols 
of clay, logs and coal, are dug up from great depths. 
Beautiful cascades, falling from two hundred to four 
hundred feet, are seen in many places. On some 
high and apparently inaccessible rocks, are numerous 
paintings, the work of remote ages. They consist of 
figures of the sun, moon, and various animals. Some 
of the delineations are good, and the colours are as 
fresh as if recently applied.'" 



CHAPTER XXVH. 
LINES OF MEASUREMENT. 

In presenting the following calculations, strict ac- 
curacy is not pretended. The measurements are sim- 
ply taken from the face of a map, presumed to pos- 
sess a common share of correctness, without regard 
to the curvatures of the lines of latitude or meridian. 
They are only offered on the supposition that they 
may afford some assistance in fixing on the memory 



LINES OF MEASUREMENT. 235 

a general impression of the form and extent of our na- 
tional territory. For this purpose — if at all useful — ■ 
they are presumed to be sufficiently correct. 

A parallel of latitude on the forty-second degree, 
from near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, passing west, 
divides between Massachusetts and Connecticut — be- 
tween New York and Pennsylvania — dissects Lake 
Erie — crosses the south end of Michigan territory 
and lake, and the north end of Illinois; and measures 
to the Mississippi about 1000 miles — to the Missouri 
river, 1320 miles — to the Rocky mountains, 1950 
miles — and to the Pacific ocean, 2900 miles. 

A parallel of latitude, dividing Virginia, Kentucky, 
and Missouri state and territory, on the north, from 
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, on the 
south, would measure, from the Atlantic coast to the 
line of Mexico, 1350 miles. 

A meridian line run north from Washington city, 
after crossing Maryland, would touch the Susquehan- 
na near its passage through the Blue mountain — cross 
the west branch near Williamsport — dissect New 
York at Geneva, on the Seneca lake — and enter lake 
Ontario at a distance from Washington of 320 miles. 
Running south from Washington, would cross the 
western peninsula of Maryland near Port Tobacco — 
leave nearly eighteen counties of Virginia to the east 
— cross North Carolina near the towns of Windsor 
and Washington — and enter the ocean westward of 
Cape Lookout, at a distance from Washington of 300 
miles. Whole distance from Ontario to the ocean, 
620 miles. 

V A meridian line from the mouth of the Mississippi 
to Isle Royal, in lake Superior, would cut ofi' the east 
side of Mississippi state — the west end of Tennessee 
— the south-west point of Kentucky — divide Illinois 
near the middle — and intersect the north-west terri- 
tory — a course of nearly 1350 miles. 

A line drawn diagonally, from the mouth of Pas- 
maquaddy river, on the Bay of Funda, to the mouth 
of Sabine river, at the south-west point of Louisiana, 



236 LINES OF MEASUREMENT. 

would cut the south coast of Maine — intersect New 
Hampshire in its south-east quarter— Massachusetts 
in its north-west — intersect New York above Pough- 
keepsie — pass near the north-west point of New Jer- 
sey — intersect Pennsylvania near Harrisburgh — dis- 
sect Maryland at its narrowest part, at the west end 
of Washington county — pass from Virginia near its 
south-west point — dissect Tennessee near the range of 
the Alleghany mountain — detach a triangular portion 
of the north-west of Alabama — divide the state of 
Mississippi diagonally, in nearly equal parts — and 
cross the river Mississsippi near the mouth of Red 
river — measuring a distance of nearly 1800 miles. 

A line drawn diagonally, from the north point of 
the Union, at the Lake of the Woods, to the southern 
extremity of Florida, would divide Illinois diagonally, 
in nearly equal parts — cut off the south-west point of 
Indiana, and the west end of Kentucky — dissect Ten- 
nessee near the middle — touch the north-east point of 
Alabama — divide Georgia — touch the north-east point 
of the Gulf of Mexico — and dissect Florida — measure- 
ing a distance of 1850 miles. 

A line drawn diagonally from Cleaveland, on lake 
Erie to Cape Hatteras, would cut off the north-east 
corner of Ohio, the upper part of Brooke county, 
Virginia, and the south-west corner of Pennsylvania, 
and cross Virginia near Richmond, measuring 560 
miles. 



23' 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
EDUCATION. 

Education is a subject of great importance in a 
republican community; and the acquirement of a 
sufficient share, to answer the most desirable pur- 
poses of citizens in the common walks of life, is less 
difficult in the United States than in many other 
countries. 

As the rising generation, however, are the subjects 
of it, the duty necessarily devolves upon those in ac- 
tive stations in manhood, to provide, and adapt, the 
means, suited to the importance of the occasion. 

To stimulate us in the exercise of the means, an 
important principle, implanted in our nature, is a 
powerful incentive — the principle of natural affec- 
tion. This prompts us to open the way to our chil- 
dren, for the acquirement of all desirable advantages 
in their future manhood, and passage through this 
life: and education is perceived to contribute largely 
to their individual rational enjoyments, and to their 
capacity of usefulness to each other, and to the com- 
munity at large. 

In situations where population is dense, schools, for 
the education of children, are, by the general consent, 
and very moderate exertions, of the more enlightened 
and efficient members of the community, easily estab- 
lished and kept in operation; securing the desired 
advantages to their own offspring. In those situa- 
tions then, the principle of natural affection toward 
our children, is perceived to be sufficient to open 
the channels of common education, and insure its 
progress. 

But even in densely peopled districts, there are 
generally a portion of the inhabitants who are less fa- 



238 EDUCATION. 

voured than others, with the means of a comfortable 
subsistence for themselves and their families; by 
which circumstance their energies may be much re- 
stricted in their operation. There may be also some, 
perhaps, who, though very deserving citizens, are 
less qualified by natural endowments, for the im- 
provement of the means of independence and comfort 
which may be presented to them. Others there are, 
who, taking little thought for the future, indulge 
themselves in a course of life wherein their natural 
affections become blunted and inoperative, as respects 
a provision for the promotion of the future dignity 
and usefulness of their offspring. 

Many portions of our country are yet but thinly 
peopled, and the inhabitants are necessarily subjected 
to a course of laborious industry, in the clearing and 
improvement of their grounds, and collecting the de- 
sired comforts of life around them. Among a scat- 
tered population thus circumstanced, many difficul- 
ties are experienced; and however strongly the prin- 
ciple of natural affection may be felt, inclining them 
to provide, and duly to apply, the means of a suita- 
ble education for their children, procrastination and 
delay, will sometimes interrupt the course approved 
by their better judgment, till the most proper season 
may be passed by, and thus their offspiing arrive at 
manhood, less happily furnished with a good com- 
mon education, than their natural affections would 
fondly desire. 

The most effectual bulwark of a just republican go- 
vernment, and the most effectual means for the pre- 
servation of republican liberty, and republican insti- 
tutions, next to the operation and influence of virtu- 
ous principles, is believed to be correct general 
knowledge; derived through the medium of a good 
education, and the reading and observation to which 
it opens the way. Uneducated ignorance, on the other 
hand, may become their most dangerous adversary; 
when wrought upon and guided by intriguing dema- 
gogues, who are capable of converting, by their art- 



EDUCATION. 239 

ful deceptions, the subjects of ignorance, into tools of 
political mischief, and thus making them the blind 
instruments of the consummation of the basest pur- 
poses of unbridled ambition, and lust of power. 

With all these circumstances and contingencies in 
view, it becomes the care of the philanthropist, the 
good moralist, and the enlightened citizen, possess- 
ing means and influence, to devise plans, by which 
other principles may be brought into operation, to the 
realizing the designs of education, which natural af- 
fection, under the various impediments recited, is 
found to be insufficient to complete. 

The principles of public virtue and expanded be- 
nevolence, which lead to the promotion of the ra- 
tional enjoyment and happiness of each member of 
the community, and which desire the unimpaired 
continuance of our excellent republican institutions, 
prompts these, to place themselves, as it were, in the 
capacity of heads of the national family; and to vie^v 
the rising generation without lespect of persons, as 
children of the communit}', whose education ought 
to be provided for by liberal public exertions, or by 
the national care, and by unfailing means, devised 
upon general principles. Hence, the many more pri- 
vate plans, devised for the extension of the benefits 
of education, to families in depressed circumstances, 
in densely peopled districts. Hence, the establish- 
ment of rules, in some religious societies, requiring 
an attention to the education of all the children of 
their poorer members. Hence, the legislative enact- 
ments in different states in the Union, for the estab- 
lishment of schools, for the literary instruction of all 
the children of their citizens. And hence, the provi- 
sion made by the general government, on the estab- 
lishment of new states, by separating a certain pro- 
portion of the public lands in each new state, to be 
devoted to the exclusive objects of general education. 

A good common education is not difficult of attain- 
ment, when the opportunities are afforded to youth 
possessing a docile disposition, and a lively desire to 



240 EDUCATION. 

improve. It may perhaps be comprehended under a 
few heads. 1st. A ready and correct application, by 
established habit, of the rules of orthography. 2dly. 
A general knowledge of the grammatical construc- 
tion of our language. 3dly. The art and habit of 
reading with correctness, and a graceful ease and fa- 
cility: by which we may receive pleasure and in- 
struction ourselves, clearly comprehend the sense of 
the author, and communicate pleasure, and a clear 
understanding of the subject, to those who hear us. 
4thly. The art and habit of writing a plain, fair, and 
neat hand; with convenient despatch, for all pur- 
poses of business, friendship, social intercourse, pri- 
vate recreation, or an occasional ready record of inte- 
resting facts and circumstances. And 5thly. A cor- 
rect knowledge and ready application of a few of the 
first common rules of arithmetic. 

By the first and second, we are relieved from any 
real occasion to blush, at the necessary exposure of 
any written memorandum of interesting transactions 
or circumstances. By the third, we are exempted 
from awkwardness and embarrassment, v/hen occa- 
sionally called upon to read for the benefit of a com- 
pany, on private or more public occasions. By the 
fourth, we are qualified to act with promptitude and 
pleasure, when circumstances may require us to fulfil 
the part of recorder of transactions of private parties 
of business, or of companies, meetings, or associa- 
tions, of a more public character. By the last, we 
are enabled to keep a regular correct account of our 
own daily pecuniary concerns and transactions of bu- 
siness, as well as intelligibly to follow and under- 
stand, the calculations exhibited in public documents, 
or by public speakers. 

For the attainment of those branches of a good 
common education, it is highly important that youth 
should be early taught duly to estimate their value: 
and become so impressed with a sense of the neces- 
sity of application, as to use all due diligence in the 
improvement of the opportunities placed before them. 



EDUCATION. 241 

by the kind affections of their parents, or the benevo- 
lence of their friends. Spurning from their minds, 
while associated in schools, all invidious distinctions, 
between those who are blest with affectionate parents, 
possessing their own means of affording education to 
their children, and those who, less favoured, may be 
kindly provided for by the bounty of their friends. 

The latter are equally under the care and protec- 
tion of the universal Parent with the former; and the 
children of the poor, are often seen to rise into emi- 
nence and honourable distinction in the community, 
while the children of the rich, depending too much 
upon the favoured circumstances of their parents, 
often fall into habits of indolence, or indulgence in 
the pleasures of idle diversions, and remain upon the 
common level, or become degraded by a course of 
vicious irregularity of conduct, unworthy of the fa- 
voured citizens of an enlightened republic; where all 
the just distinctions of rank between man and man, are 
founded upon demonstrations of intellectual excel- 
lence, and a consistent course of meritorious conduct. 

After youth have succeeded, by an industrious use 
of the means placed in their power, in securing a 
good common education, there is no room for uneasi- 
ness or anxiety, should their worldly circumstances 
seem adverse to a further uninterrupted progress into 
more extended branches of learning. Having ac- 
quired this first invaluable prize, there is scarcely a 
situation in our country to be conceived of, where 
those disposed to acquire further educational know- 
ledge, may not, by their own unaided exertions, re- 
alize much advancement. 

Books, relating to geography, mathematics, arts, 
sciences, history, natural philosophy, and all other 
departments of literary knowledge, exist in abun- 
dance. From the private study of these, as leisure 
is afforded from their necessary avocations in life, 
they may derive rational pleasure, and greatly add to 
their general stock of useful knowledge; and thus be- 
come the better prepared, to fill with propriety, such 
21 



242 EDUCATION. 

stations in the community, as they may, in 3'ears of 
manhood, be called upon to occupy. 

Many, from the ranks of those who have received 
in their youth only a good common education, have 
become qualified to fill with dignity, the olFices of ma- 
gistracy, of legislators in their respective states, and 
of representatives and senators in Congress: the high- 
est stations in our government being open to them, 
according as their real merits may advance them in 
the public estimation. 

Individual youths in the common or lower walks 
of life, who may find their inclination peculiarly di- 
rected to the pursuit of mathematical studies, or any 
other particular branch of a more advanced educa- 
tion, may often, by keeping their laudable objects in 
view, and using with proper application, the means 
falling within their private reach, find opportunities 
of throwing themselves under the notice of those in 
whose power and inclination it may be, to afford 
them efficient aid. And to watch the evidences and 
progress, and promote the useful development of na- 
tive genius, ought to rank high amongst the rational 
pleasures of the virtuous and wealthy members of a 
republican community. 

Taking a summary view of the subject of education 
on a broad ground, we should say, that the first step 
toward the general diffusion of a good common edu- 
cation, would seem to be, a general peculiar care, to 
bestow a suitable education upon the female part of 
the rising society. 

These, then, beside acquiring an additional interest 
of character, in connexion with their native loveliness, 
when they become the heads of rising families, would 
find a delightful employment of a part of their time, 
in mingling the first principles of literary instruction 
with the playful amusements of their infant charges; 
by which means a knowledge of the first rudiments 
of education would be secured, and a taste for, and 
delight in learning implanted, which would be of the 
highest consequence in their subsequent studies; and 



EDUCATION, 243 

which, in many instances, might be easily extended 
to a considerable proficiency in the first parts of a 
s^ood education. 

In the next place, common schools, under the ma- 
nagement of judicious and qualified tutors, would be 
sufficient to complete a good common education: and 
in many of these, are now embraced higher branches, 
which were formerly never supposed to belong to 
them. 

After these, private boarding schools, embracing a 
wider range of study, for those who have means and 
inclination to use them, abound in many p^irts of the 
community. 

Beyond these again, the various grades of acade- 
mies and colleges, for the acquirement of foreign and 
ancient languages, and instruction in the various de- 
partments of science, established upon public and 
more private foundations, are in constant operation, 
in many states in the Union. 

And lastly, there are many institutions termed uni- 
versities, founded in some instances by the benefac- 
tions of individual liberalitj', but generally, either 
aided or established, by the authority of the states in 
which they are located. 

Thus are opportunities widely difiused for the ac- 
quirement of education in all the departments of lite- 
rary knowledge, science, and the learned professions; 
and open to access by youth whose inclinations 
may lead them to avail themselves of the opportu- 
nities presented; and whose parents or friends are fa- 
voured with the requisite means of gratifying their 
desires. 



244 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



THE EAGLE MAP. 

On presenting to the public a map upon the con- 
struction here imperfectly exhibited, if an apolo2;y 
be not necessary, perhaps at least, some notice of the 
origin of the idea, and some of the reflections of the 
author upon it, may not be misplaced. 

The first sudden impress of the form of the figure 
upon his attention, was under a combination of pe- 
culiar circumstances. A map of the United States 
happened to hang upon the wall of his apartment, 
upon which a dim lamp light was reflected. The ef- 
fect of the light, in the particular position in which it 
was accidentally placed, seemed, as reflected from the 
various colourings of the map, to cast a shade over 
the state of Maine, and to mark a kind of separation 
between it and the adjoining territory. The close 
connexion of this state, as, always, under a common 
view, necessarily combined with the great general 
ground plan of the Union, he conceives to be the 
principal reason why the notion of the figure has not 
before been apprehended. 

On its first presentation, he was disposed to discard 
the idea, as merely a sportive play of the imaginar 
tion, unworthy of notice. The figure, however, once 
impressed, could not be eflaced from the imagination; 
but was ever afterward in view when his eye happen- 
ed to glance on a map, till he was at length induced 
to give the subject a share of consideration, regarding 
its possible usefulness and moral bearing. 

Arguments which presented in favor of construct- 
ing a map embracing the plan of the figure, appeared 
conclusive with relation to the youth engaged in the 



THE EAGLE MAP. 245 

study of the geography of our country. Those argu- 
ments were founded upon an apprehension of the in- 
creased facility with which lessons may be impressed 
and retained upon the youthful memory, when the 
aid of figure, adapted with a tolerable degree of accu- 
racy to the subject of study, can be resorted to. To 
this opinion it is presumed teachers in general will 
readily yield their accord, without further remark 
upon the questions of Why? or Wherefore? 

When extending his reflections further, the recollec- 
tion was of course present, that the figure of the eagle 
was the figure adopted by our national councils, as our 
national badge. In this point of view, the coincidence 
appeared as a circumstance peculiarly striking. A fur- 
ther singular and surprising coincidence presented it- 
self, in the circumstance that the bird is placed in a 
position perfectly correct, with respect to a corres- 
pondence with the lines of latitude and longitude; no 
variation from the common principles of constructing 
maps being required, to place it in a natural position. 

As the subject has occasionally occupied a further 
extension of thought, a variety of serious moral reflec- 
tions have occurred to the mind of the author, in 
which he is not disposed to anticipate his intelligent 
readers, who are altogether capable of reflecting for 
themselves. He will, therefore, under this head, con- 
tent himself with offering a supposition of a single 
example, illustrative of the manner in which visible 
objects, as they stand associated in the mind with 
ideas of order or deformity, may possibly be more or 
less productive of moral effects. 

If, from a selfish, or misguided policy, the citizens 
of any one state, should propose to separate their in- 
terests from the interests of the Uiiion, and claim a 
right to withdraw from the general connexion, the 
ugly chasm which would be produced by carrying 
their design into effect, would be aptly represented 
by supposing a line of separation drawn round the 
seceding state, and admitting its whole internal de- 
clinations, and even its very name, to be blotted out 
21* 



246 THE EAGLE MAP. 

from the eagle map of the United States, — the signs 
and notices, of all the delightful alternations of river, 
mountain, hill, and plain — of cities, the seats of com- 
merce and refinement — of villages, the abodes of in- 
dustry and social enjoyment — of the rural residences 
of friends whom we love — all shrouded, in a shade 
of gloomy, impenetrable darkness — and then observ- 
ing the distortion which would be thus effected, in the 
beautiful figure before us. Thus, might not a moral 
repugnance be strengthened, against the open or in- 
sidious attempts, of artful, designing men, who might, 
for some ignoble or selfish end, be disposed, by de- 
ceiving their fellow citizens, to attempt a disorganiza- 
tion of the republic? 

In the common representations of the eagle as the 
American ensign, an allusion seems to be generally 
intended to a martial spirit; and it is therefore repre- 
sented with an aspect of fierceness, and in an attitude 
prepared for war. Here, on the contrary, having 
possession of the whole country, and no enemy to 
contend with, it is designed to appear as the placid 
representative of national liberty, and national inde- 
pendence; with an aspect of beneficent mildness, and 
in an attitude of peace. 

It is therefore to be conceived of, as having be- 
come wearied and disgusted, with the oppressions, 
perpetual discords, and tyrannizing of power over 
right, prevailing from age to age in the old world, 
and as having, in consequence thereof, taken its flight 
across the western ocean, in search of a resting place; 
where its administration of equal rights might be duly 
appreciated and respected. 

Having arrived at the shores of this western world, 
and taken its aerial circuits with the continent under 
review, it appears as though arresting its flight — its 
wings raised with a graceful, natural, and easy curve, 
as relinquishing their hold on the buoyant atmosphere 
—and its feet extended, as in the act of gently settling 
on the rocks of the Florida reef, to exercise a benign 



THE EAGLE MAP. 247 

presidence over a territory equal to the length and 
l)readth of its own shadow. 

Thus it appears as overshadowing the whole ex- 
tent of the United States and territories, excepting the 
state of Maine, and the home of the natives in the 
distant regions of the west. The citizens of Maine, 
it is presumed, will not be offended at the impossibi- 
lity of comprehending their department in the Union, 
within the regular form of the figure, when we assign 
to it the appellation of the cap of liberty, attached to 
the eagle's head. 

The present small map, is supposed to be sufficient, 
in its internal delineations, to serve the purposes of 
illwstrating the subjects of the volume which it ac- 
companies. It may also serve to impart a fair gene- 
ral idea of the design of the figure. Yet it has not 
the least pretension to showing a specimen of the 
elegance, with which the combined circumstances of 
coincidence of figure, and geographical utility, are 
capable of being represented. By an enlargement of 
the scale alone, the proportions of the figure would 
be presented to the eye, with a general aspect greatly 
improved. 

It is contemplated to issue, simultaneously with 
the present volume, proposals for publishing by sub- 
scription^ an eagle map of the United States, upon a 
large and liberal scale; to be executed by the ablest 
artists in a superior style; and intended to furnish an 
appropriate ornament, to decorate our halls of legis- 
lation, judicature, literature, and science, with the 
library of the retired gentleman, the office of the law- 
yer, and the retreats of the farmer, manufacturer, and 
merchant. It is conceived that the ornament would 
be likely to be viewed with peculiar interest and gra- 
tification, because of the circumstance of containing, 
in correct proportion, a representation of our beloved 
country. 

In the large map proposed, much of the common 
minutia will be omitted in the engraving, in order to 
show the figure with greater advantage and beauty. 



248 AGRICULTURE. 

All the most important items, will, however, be re- 
tained, and the place of the smaller supplied by a 
neatly printed and bound accompanying volume of 
references; so arranged, as to render all the usual pur- 
poses of a map of the United States complete. In 
exchange for the omitted minutia, will be engraved, 
the regions of our different mineral and vegetable pro- 
ductions, with various other interesting and ornamen- 
tal delineations, never heretofore presented in similar 
works. 



CHAPTER XXX. 
AGRICULTURE.* 

Though agriculture may be properly said to stand 
foremost, amongst the occupations of the citizens of our 
country, the general subject may not, perhaps, have 
been viewed with all the importance of consideration, 
of which its rank amongst the pursuits of the sons of 
men renders it a proper object. Its discontinuance 
would cause the fruitful field to become a wilderness; 
and the luxuriant garden, overspread with brambles, 
would lose all traces of the cultivator's skill. The 
wilds of the forest would remain unsubdued; and 
population, wasting away, before the advances of a 

* The present chapter, referring principally, but net exclusively, to 
the pursuitH of agriculture, would seem to have been vjovq appropriate- 
ly placed in an earlier part of the volume, in a nearei- connexion with 
the chapters upon manufactures and commerce. But as it has been 
prevented, by a circumstance wholly accidental, from occupying tliat 
station, it will stand at present, as the concludhig chapter of the second 
book; where the reader, if he please, may consider it r^s a summary 
recapitulation of sentiments, before expressed less plainly, and with 
less intimate connexion, upon those peculiarly interesting subjects of 
national concernment. The chapter of legal definitions is transferred 
to the conclusion of the volume. 



AGRICULTURE. 249 

constantly encroaching solitude, would leave its 
abodes upon the surface of this beautiful dwelling 
place of social delights, to become again the dens and 
ranges of untamed beasts of prey. 

If we look to the other side of the picture, and be- 
hold the skilful agriculturist, pursuing his annual 
course, with a steady, rational, well directed aim, we 
perceive every season furnishing fresh evidences of 
the wisdom of his measures, and pouring its rich ad- 
ditional rewards, into the lap of patient, persevering 
industry. 

But, the character of the agriculturist, becomes 
much more interesting, when we view him as he 
really is — an agent, acting in co-operation with that 
supreme Intelligence, which has given life and per- 
manence, to those invigorating powers of nature, by 
which alone, the labors of the husbandman are ren- 
dered effectual. His duty is to prepare the ground, 
and scatter the seed in due season. Yet, without the 
influence of the "early or the latter rain," — which 
are never at his command — the fructifying principle, 
by which the earth sends forth her golden harvests, 
must remain inoperative. 

Whether a controlling Providence may command 
the operations of nature to proceed according to ge- 
neral or special laws, it is presumed, it will never be 
his proper business to inquire; or to determine by his 
finite powers, the secret causes which sometimes ope- 
rate, by permission of the Infinite. If blight or mil- 
dew — '' the drought by day, or the frost by night'^ — 
be permitted to encroach upon the labors of one sea- 
son, he has no right to complain. The next, may 
compensate his patient submission seven fold. 

Yet is he the most independent of human beings; 
because all others are dependent upon him. He feeds 
the idle and the dissipated, who spend their abundance 
in rioting and reckless waste, regardless of the sources 
from whence their supplies are derived. He provides 
for the widow and the fatherless; and the whole civil-, 
ized world, looks to him as its purveyor. 



250 AGRICULTURE. 

The enlightened agriculturist, may be viewed as a 
patriarch amongst the people over whom he presides. 
His cultivated mind, perceives and appreciates, the 
true principles of a wise and just government. His 
servants, and the junior members of his famil}^, are 
appointed their portions of labor with a kind regard 
to their varied powers, and without oppression. And 
the animal creation under his dominion, enjoy the 
sweets and pleasures of their existence, unalloyed by 
circumstances of careless neglect, or the irregular 
operations of an inconsiderate caprice. 

While he feels a rational delight in beholding the 
expanding bud, and the opening flower — the pledges 
of his future reward — his grateful mind is raised in 
sublime contemplation, upon the Great First Cause. 
The influence of his example, may be seen to spread 
from field to field, and from district to district, by 
the improvements which his discriminating judg- 
ment, and the happy effects of his example have in- 
troduced; and by a consequent annual enlargement of 
the means, by which countless multitudes may, upon 
our national domains, be amply sustained. 

To those to whom the pursuits of agriculture are 
must attractive, our country afibrds opportunities be- 
yond any other region of the earth with which we 
have any acquaintance. If a young man be disposed 
to seek, with the selected partner of his life, a habi- 
tation even in the western wilds, and plant himself in 
solitude upon some chosen spot where the soil pro- 
vided for the field of his industry may best accord 
with his choice, he will soon find the social circle ex- 
tending itself around him, and every season adding 
some substantial increase to the comforts and enjoy- 
ments of his beloved family. His wilderness will 
soon become a fruitful field; and the lot of his inhe- 
ritance, presenting the evidences of his well directed 
industry, will bear no resemblance to the '^garden of 
the sluggard," '^covered with briers and thorns." 

But, in a country like ours, having within itself 
every circumstance, and with few exceptions, every 



AGRICULTURE. 251 

liiaterlal, necessary to our accommodation, and com- 
plete independence of all other nations, it will never 
be expected that all our citizens should be agricultu- 
rists. There will always be found a due proportion, 
whose genius and inclinations will dispose them to 
other pursuits, equally honourable, and equally ad- 
vantageous to the great whole. Thus, while one por- 
tion of our citizens is engaged as agriculturists, in 
providing the comforts of the table, for the whole po- 
pulation, another portion, pursuing the direction of 
native genius, and acquired skill, will be engaged, 
with equal industry and honour, as manufacturers, 
in providing suitable array for the whole. And a 
third, and a fourth class, in the pursuit of other ob- 
jects of industr}^, by which the whole may be fur- 
nished with all other rational accommodations to be 
desired in a refined society. 

Other citizens, again, will be found, in sufficient 
numbers, who, from education and habit, will be 
qualified to occupy the place of the merchant; to ma- 
nage the business of exchanges in the community; 
and to discover the best modes of disposing of the 
surplus products of the whole national industry; and 
through whom will be introduced, all articles of fo- 
reign growth or manufacture, which it may yet be 
found expedient to import. Thus, may agriculture, 
manufactures, and commerce, go hand in hand, under 
a beautiful, well regulated, national system. 

Some theorists, whose arguments are suited to 
their own peculiar interests, will tell us, that these 
are selfish principles ; and that true philanthropy 
would teach us to employ the poor of other nations, 
who are suffering for want of bread, as our manufac- 
turers. But, who can reasonably suppose, that under 
the general plan of a wise Providence, nations sepa- 
rated from each other by immense oceans, should 
ever be intended to depend upon each other for the 
means of existence? It may be rationally believed, 
that the produce of the soil, the circumstances, and 
most judicious modes of employment of the people, 



252 AGRICULTURE. 

of every nation, would, if justly appropriated, and 
wisely and seasonably directed and administered, be 
all-sufficient for the comfortable maintenance of its 
population. 

If, then, the nations of the old world, distrusting 
each other's honesty, choose to maintain armies of 
hundreds of thousands, spending, in worse than use- 
less idleness, the fruits of the labours of the industrious 
poor, while they are jealously watching the motions 
of each other — if the pampered landlord, upon whom 
the caprice of remote ages, has bestowed the control 
of immense tracts of the national domain, shall be 
permitted to devote vast portions of the soil to the 
exclusive purposes of his own pleasures and amuse- 
ments, while tens of thousands, who might be com- 
fortably supported upon them by their own labour, 
remain the victims of hopeless destitution — if the 
possessor of millions, which were never acquired by 
his own industry, shall spend uncounted sums from 
those millions in voluptuous vanity or in midnight 
revelling and debauch, regardless of the distresses of 
those from whom his supplies of food and raiment are 
derived, and deaf to the cries of their children, suf- 
fering for want of bread, let the oppressor, in every 
nation, answer for the wickedness of his own con- 
duct. It surely cannot be our duty, to go to far dis- 
tant lands, in quest of objects upon whom to bestow 
this kind of charity, while many of our own popula- 
tion would, in consequence, remain unprovided with 
the means of useful employment, by which to insure 
their own comfort, and the education of their own 
offspring. 



RUDIMENTS 

OF 

NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE. 

BOOK III. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

It is our design to devote this third book to an 
account, — according to our settled plan of brevity, — 
of the states and territories, in their several separate 
capacities. 

Chapter I. will contain a description of the princi- 
pal waters of each. In this chapter, those rivers will 
be noticed, which serve either as partial or more ex- 
tended channels of navigation, to the states particu- 
larly interested in them, with some of the principal 
rivers which are essentially useful, in plans of inter- 
nal improvement by canals, whiie they serve to fer- 
tilize and beautify the regions through which they 
flow. To notice by name, all the noble streams, 
which may, in some future day, be devoted to the 
purpose of supplying canals, or which contribute to 
diffuse the most lively and pleasing interest over a 
thousand varying landscapes, and scenes of rural beau- 
ty or romantic grandeur, adorning every state in our 
Union, would be passing beyond the limits of our 
present plan. 

22 



254 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Chapter II. will be devoted to giving a compara- 
tive view of the face of the country, soil, agricultural 
products, manufactures, and trade of each state. 

In chapter III. will be found notices of the cities, 
and principal trading and manufacturing towns, show- 
ing generally, their amount of population, according 
with the census of 1830. By a view of their re- 
spective population, an estimate of their comparative 
size and importance may be generally inferred. 

In chapter IV. will be exhibited, tables of the 
counties of each state, with the seats of judicature in 
each county. 

Though the plan of arrangement under which the 
different subjects will be presented may appear un- 
common, it has been adopted from an apprehension 
that it will be found to be an improvement upon the 
method heretofore generally in use. To trace each 
class of subjects, throughout the states, to its conclu- 
sion, it has been conceived, will contribute to impress 
the information designed to be conveyed, with greater 
efficiency; and that the circumstances of each state, 
compared with others, will be more clearly compre- 
hended, and readily retained upon the memory, than 
when the attention is alternately changed, in quick 
succession, from one class of subjects to another. 

If, moreover, it should be at any time desirable to 
view in connexion, all the information which is given 
with relation to any particular state, the simplicity of 
the arrangement is conceived to be such, that the stu- 
dent, or other reader, can instantly turn to the page 
on which the desired additional information may be 
found. If such a course should be often necessary, 
perhaps an additional advantage would be found to 
result from the circumstance of the attention becom- 
ing brightened, and the memory strengthened, by a 
habit of inquiry, comparison, and research. 

As students will always have the advantage of a 
map, while engaged in the study or perusal of the 
work, it is apprehended, that the boundaries of the 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 255 

states, and their geographical bearings from each 
other, will be more readily and lastingly impressed 
upon the memory, when the knowledge of them is 
obtained through their own research and observation 
upon the map, than by any other means. It is there- 
fore believed, that it would be an unnecessary exten- 
sion of the labors of the printer, and at best, a dry, 
formal compliance with customary forms, to insert 
them in printed tables. 

In his descriptions in this book, it has been the 
study of the author to avoid any considerable repeti- 
tion of his former observations, where he has treated 
of any subject or circumstance in a national point of 
view; and to confine himself principally, to addi- 
tional items of information, where the same subjects 
recur. 

In this volume, it will be observed, that the author 
has adopted a mode of tracing the states from the 
north-eastern extremity, as they stand in geographi- 
cal connexion, till we reach Louisiana; taking next, 
the six remaining states, upon the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi, as they most regularly occur in succession. 

In casual conversation — in mere general inference 
— and sometimes in public debate — it may be found 
convenient, without the necessity of referring to any 
exactly defined boundaries, to express ourselves, with 
relation to different portions of our Union, by the ge- 
neral terms, eastern, northern, middle, southern, west- 
ern, &c. But to divide the states into groups, by lines 
of exact demarkation, according to the method of mo- 
dern geographers, is not perceived to be necessary, or 
tending to any point of usefulness. In the present 
work, therefore, the plan has been departed from; part- 
ly from motives of convenience. But a desire has also 
been predominant to avoid sectional distinctions in 
general, and to present the Union as one great whole: 
its parts standing in a mutual relation to, and depend- 
ance on, each other, for a mutual interchange of be- 
nefits and kind offices, as a family of brethren, united 



256 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

by a common interest, and in possession of a noble* 
if not an unequalled, common inheritance. 

From this view of the subject, the method adopted 
from motives of convenience, receives in the mind of 
the author additional value; from the tendency it may 
possibly have, to foreclose the consideration of selfish 
sectional interests, and counteract the contracted po- 
licy of sectional preferences and partialities. 

It appears, however, that our modern geographers 
are not agreed in the manner of forming their groups. 
Individual fancy appears to have been the rule by 
which they have been governed, rather than by any 
established national agreement, adopted by general 
consent; some dividing by one set of fanciful crooked 
lines, and some by others, and perhaps no two of 
them alike. Some of those arrangements have ap- 
peared to the author as involving a great degree of 
awkwardness and geographical absurdity. 

Were the author disposed to pursue a similar me- 
thod, he would probably follow the example of his 
predecessors, by striking out a plan of his own. The 
six New England states, eastward of New York, he 
would still call the "eastern states." The remainder he 
would divide into two departments only — '^northern'* 
and ''southern." The dividing line he would pro- 
pose, should be the line, which, with very little irre- 
gularity, separates Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri 
state, upon the north, from North Carolina, Tennes- 
see, and the territory of Arkansa on the south. By 
this ideal arrangement the portions would be nearly 
equal, and the necessity of following many awkward 
zigzag courses would be avoided. 

It may be further observed, that as the south point 
of Florida is in latitude twenty-five degrees, and the 
north point of Maine, as now represented in our 
maps, and Isle Royal in lake Superior, are each jn 
latitude forty-eight degrees, the division line pro- 
posed, being on a parallel of thirty-six degrees, thir- 
ty minutes, is exactly on a medium between them. 
Thus would each section embrace exactly an equal 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 257 

range of latitude, and furnish a more rational and pal- 
pable ground for sectional denominations, derived 
from a consideration of equal ranges of latitude, ra- 
ther than a supposed difference of habits and manners 
of the citizens. Should some future age show an ad- 
ditional number of states organized in the Missouri 
territory, it may then become a consideration, whe- 
ther to denote those west of the Mississippi, including 
Missouri, as the " western states.'^ 



r^^^ 



CHAPTER L 

WATERS OF THE SEVERAL 
STATES. 

Sec. I. MAINE. — The extensive sea coast of 
Maine is indented with many inlets of the sea, afford- 
ing numerous harbors, and navigation to short dis- 
tances. 

The Penobscot river passes from the north into 
Penobscot bay, near the middle of the coast. It af- 
fords a ship navigation to Bangor, fifty-four miles 
from the head of the bay, which is a beautiful and ex- 
tensive sheet of water, extending thirty miles from 
the ocean, and affording many advantages to naviga- 
tion. 

The Kennebeck rises in the Moosehead lake, and 
runs south into the ocean near Wiscasset. Its tides 
flow to Augusta, forty-two miles, affording naviga- 
tion for sloops. 

The Androscoggin enters the state from New 
Hampshire, in the west, and runs south-easterly, into 
22* 



25S WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 

Kennebeck, at its mouth. Its navigation is short for 
sea vessels, but much more extensive for boats. 

The St. Croix river, and Passamaquoddy bay, into 
which it enters, separate the lower eastern part of 
the state from the British province of New Bruns- 
wick; the bay discharging in the bay of Funda. Its 
tides are not extensive, though they rise to an ama- 
zing height, sometimes exceeding forty feet. 

Sec. II. NEW HAMPSHIRE.— The Connecti- 
cut river is the dividing line between this state and 
Vermont. It has a navigation by flat boats, by means 
of canalling, and otherwise improving its different, 
falls, from hence to the tide. Other rivers of the state, 
though numerous, are small; passing into Massachu- 
setts and Maine. The Merrimack intersects the state 
near the middle, and passing by Concord, continues 
south into Massachusetts. It then turns north-east- 
ward, and enters the ocean near Newburyport. But 
by a canal continued south-east, it has a direct con- 
nexion with Boston harbor. The state includes a 
very limited portion of sea coast, at its south-east 
corner. 

Sec. hi. VERMONT. — TheConnecticut river se- 
parates the state from New Hampshire. Lake Cham- 
plain, on the north-west, separates it from New York, 
and furnishes the only natural channel of navigation 
to the ocean, through the St. Lawrence. The want 
of the use of that channel, is well supplied, for the 
purposes of a convenient transport, by the northern 
canal of New York, connecting the lake with the 
tides of the Hudson. 

Sec. IV. MASSACHUSETTS.— This state is in- 
tersected from north to south, in its westerly part, 
by the Connecticut river, navigable by boats. Its 
other rivers in the east, are small, affording very lit- 
tle means of natural inland navigation, but plentiful 
waters for the supply of canals. Merrimack is the 
chief. The state is, however, well supplied with con- 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES, 259 

venient havens, on Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and 
Buzzard's bays, for the reception and harbor of ship- 
ping. 

Sec. v. RHODE ISLAND.— This little state is 
abundantly watered, by the ocean on its south, and 
the bay of Naraganset, and its branches intersecting 
its eastern parts, and extending twenty-eight miles 
inland, when it receives Providence river five miles 
below the town. 

Sec. VI. CONNECTICUT.— Connecticut is in- 
tersected by three rivers from north to south; all dis- 
charging in Long Island Sound. Housatonick, in the 
west — Connecticut near the middle — Thames near 
the east boundary. The Connecticut is navigable for 
sloops to about fifty miles inland. The tides of the 
Tliames extend seventeen miles. The whole south 
coast of the state bounding on Long Island Sound is 
by that means well watered. A good boat navigation 
is extended across the state by means of improvements 
on Connecticut river. 

Sec. VII. NEW YORK.— The lakes Erie and On- 
tario, with their connecting and discharging rivers, 
bounding the western and northern parts of the state, 
have been already noticed in our second book. 

The Hudson river rises in the northern part of 
the state. Its course, for more than two hundred 
miles, to the city of New York, is nearly a straight 
line south. A direct course of such extent, intersect- 
ing high mountains, is anomalous, as respects the ri- 
vers of America. Its importance, as a great thorough- 
fare of trade, is elsewhere noted. 

The Mohawk is a branch of the Hudson, discharg- 
ing near Albany. Its sources are near the east end 
of lake Ontario, and its length one hundred and fifty 
miles. It is particularly distinguished, as furnishing 
a site along its border, for the great western canal. 



260 WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 

On the north-east, dividing the state from Vermont, 
is the long narrow lake Champlain; much noted in 
American history, as the scene of many military oc- 
currences. 

In the middle and western parts of the state, are 
many small oblong lakes, of various extent. These 
communicate with lake Ontario: and the level plain 
in the upper country, upon which they are situated, 
being a high table land, they afford at their outlets, 
and on the streams passing from them, many power- 
ful waterfalls, adapted to manufacturing purposes. 

The Genessee river waters a rich country in the 
western part of the state; crossing it from Pennsylva- 
nia, and entering Ontario near its middle. 

The Delaware river, rising in the state, separates it 
from the north-east of Pennsylvania. 

The Susquehanna also, takes its rise in New York, 
passing southward into Pennsylvania. 

The channel of New York harbour, which sepa- 
rates the city from Long Island, is called the East 
river. It is an arm of the sea; and in its passage 
eastward, expands into a wide water, called Long 
Island Sound. In its channel, eight miles from New 
York, is a crooked narrow rocky pass, which is often 
called Hellgate, its original Dutch name being Horll- 
gatt, signifying a whirlpool. It is of dangerous na- 
vigation, except at high water. At this pass, the 
tides meet from each direction, but press earliest and 
heaviest from the east; and, at the times of their in- 
flux, as well as among the rocks at lov*- water, a tur- 
bulent commotion is presented of awful appearance, 
and much dreaded by navigators. Yet tliis dangerous 
pass, has sometimes, on extraordinary occasions, 
been navigated at high water by large ships, and 
for steamboats and other small vessels is then per- 
fectly safe. 

Sec. VIII. NEW JERSEY.— The river and bay 
of Delaware, bounds the whole extent of the state, 
from its north-western point to Cape May. The 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 261 

Hudson on the north-east, separates it from New 
York. Other rivers are the Raritan, navigable two 
miles above New Brunswick, and nineteen miles 
from its discharge into Raritan bay at Amboy. The 
Hackinsack and Passaick, emptying in Newark bay, 
and Great and Little Egg Harbour, on the south-east 
sea coast. Many of the large and small creeks, on 
both sides of the state, admit the influx of the tides, 
to some miles inland, and furnish abundant facilities 
of conveyance, of lumber, fuel, and the products of 
agriculture and the iron mines, to the markets of 
New York and Philadelphia, by boats and sloops. 

Sec. IX. PENNSYLVANIA.— The principal ri- 
vers of Pennsylvania, east of the Apalachian moun- 
tains, are the Delaware and Susquehanna, noted in 
our second book. These have many branches. The 
Lehigh, connecting with the Delaware at Easton, is 
a bold, rocky, and rugged stream, presenting many 
strong rapids, and incapable of much use for boat na- 
vigation, before the construction of the noble canal, 
now in operation from the vicinity of the coal mines 
of Mauch Chunk, to its junction with the Delaware. 

The Schuylkill, passing on the west side of Phila- 
delphia, near which is the head of its tide water, is of 
similar rugged character, but now improved, by slack- 
water and canal constructions, to near its head, one 
hundred and eight miles from Philadelphia. Its 
western branches furnish the means of a connexion, 
by the Union canal, in full operation, with the wa- 
ters of the Susquehanna. 

The branches of the Susquehanna, in the middle 
and northern counties of the state, are numerous, 
and several of them are navigable for boats to great 
distances; besides affording ample means for the ex- 
tension of canal communication, in various directions: 
some of which have been heretofore noticed. 

West of the mountains, the Alleghany river is 
collected from many heads, rising in the north-west 
parts of the state, and south-west of New York. 



262 WATERS OP THE SEVERAL STATES. 

The Monongahela is collected in a similar manner, 
from the south-west of the state and Virginia. These 
two, uniting at Pittsburgh, form the Ohio. 

Sec. X. DELAWARE. — Excepting the Dela- 
ware, separating it from New Jersey, the rivers of 
this small state, are all of comparatively inconsidera- 
ble size; though it has many tide creeks, communi- 
cating with the Delaware, which afford convenient 
sloop navigation, to some miles inland, and furnish 
great facilities, for the conveyance of timber, and the 
products of agriculture, and the extensive northern 
manufactories, to a choice of markets. George's creek 
furnishes a channel, connecting with the thorough- 
fare canal, passing across the peninsula. 

Sec. XI. MARYLAND.— The rivers on the East- 
ern Shore of Maryland, are necessarily short. The 
principal are Elk, Chester, Wye, Choptank, and Po- 
comoke. Back creek, between Elk and Chester, af- 
fords a channel of connexion with the canal, which 
unites the bays of Chesapeak and Delaware, and is 
therefore, an important navigable stream. 

The Chesapeak bay and the beautiful Potomac, 
have been heretofore noticed in our national sketches, 

Other principal rivers on the western shore, are 
the Patuxent and the Patapsco. 

The Susquehanna, entering the state from the 
north, discharges in the head of Chesapeak bay. The 
tides pass up it only about five miles, to Port De- 
posite. 

Sec. XII. The DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 
besides the passage through it of the beautiful Poto- 
mac, includes a short branch of that river, called 
East Branch, which affords deep anchorage, and a 
safe and excellent harbour, for the national vessels, 
at the public navy yard. 

Sec. xiii. VIRGINIA.— The Potomac divides 
the state from Maryland, by its several meandering 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 263 

ind circuitous courses, from its mouth on the Chesa- 
peak bay, to its fountain head. From the head of its 
rides, in the District of Columbia, its valley affords a 
passage for the Chesapeak and Ohio canal, through 
the Alleghany mountains. 

James' river rises in the range of the Alleghany 
mountains, and running eastward, discharges at Hamp- 
ton roads, near the mouth of Chesapeak bay. It is 
navigable for small sea vessels to Richmond; by its 
several windings, nearly one hundred miles inland. 
Batteaux traverse it two hundred and twenty miles 
above Richmond into a fine, beautiful, agricultural 
district. It has numerous branches, navigable to 
short distances. A south branch, named Appomatox, 
affords sloop navigation to Petersburgh. 

York river — fiimous in revolutionary history — is 
formed from the Pamonky and Mataposny rivers. It 
affords the means of passing small vessels, thirty-five 
miles from the junction of those branches, to its dis- 
charge in the Chesapeak. Its course is between 
James' river and Rappahannock, and nearly parallel 
with them. 

The Rappahannock rises near the Blue mountain, 
and is navigable from Fredericksburgh to its dis- 
charge in the Chesapeak — a course of one hundred 
and ten miles. 

The Shanandoah is an inland branch of the Poto- 
mac, which has a north-east course, watering a very 
fertile and beautiful valley, between the Blue Ridge, 
and the more western ranges of the Alleghany, to its 
discharge at Harper's ferry. 

The Ohio, forms the north-west boundary of the 
state. 

The Kenhawa, has its sources among the moon- 
tains of North Carolina; where it is called New river. 
Entering Virginia, it passes north-westerly, across 
the state, and discharges in the Ohio at Point Plea- 
sant ; receiving in its course through the state the 
tribute of nine or ten smaller rivers* 



264 WATERS OP THE SEVERAL STATES. 

The Roanoke, rises among the mountains of Vir- 
ginia, and passes south-easterly into North Carolina. 

These rivers are all composed of numerous branch- 
es, by which the state is abundantly watered. 

Sec. XIV. NORTH CAROLINA. Albemarle 

Sound is a bay of considerable expansion, passing into 
the state from the east, to the distance of forty-five 
miles. It receives from the north numerous branches, 
navigable to short distances. The principal of these 
is formed from the small rivers Blackwater, Notta- 
way, and Meherron, which rise in Virginia. 

The Roanoke enters the state from Virginia, and 
discharges in the head of Albemarle Sound. 

Pamlico Sound is a large basin of the sea, inclosed 
by the long narrow island, which, by a projecting 
angle, forms cape Hatteras. 

Pamlico river is navigable for small sea vessels 
forty miles, to the town of Washington. Its princi- 
pal head branch is Tar river. 

Neuse river rises in the interior of the state, and 
discharges in Pamlico Sound. It is navigable for sea 
vessels to Newbern — forty miles. 

Cape Fear river rises in the northern parts of the 
state, and discharges in the Atlantic ocean, twenty 
miles below Wilmington. 

The Peedee and Santee rivers, pass from the north- 
ern and western parts of the state, into South Carolina. 

Sec. XV. SOUTH CAROLINA. The Great 

Peedee, entering the state from North Carolina, dis- 
charges in the ocean, a few miles below Georgetown. 
It receives in its course the Little Peedee, flowing 
from North Carolina. It is navigable for vessels of 
sixty tons nearly two hundred miles. 

The Santee river, entering the state from North 
Carolina, receives from the west the Congaree, com- 
posed of several branches, and running south-easterly, 
enters the ocean near the mouth of Peedee. In North 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 265 

Carolina, it is called the Catawba, and before its junc- 
tion with the Congaree, it is called the Wateree. 

The Edisto is a small river, entering the ocean at 
St. Helena Sound. 

The Savannah river forms the dividing line be- 
tween this state and Georgia, in its whole distance 
from the south-west point of North Carolina. It is 
navigable for small craft three hundred miles by its 
windings from Augusta to its mouth. 

Sec. XVI. GEORGIA.— The Atamaha waters the 
middle of the state, from near its northern boundary 
to its discharge in the ocean, near the middle of the 
south-east coast. Its principal branches are, the Oco- 
nee and Ocmulgee. 

The Ogechee runs between the Atamaha and the 
Savannah, and discharges in the ocean, near the 
mouth of the latter. 

The Savannah bounds the state on the side of 
South Carolina. 

The Chatahoochee and Flint rivers, unite at the 
south-west point of the state, and pass through Flo- 
rida, to the gulf of Mexico, by the name of Apalachi- 
cola. The Chatahoochee divides the south-west part 
of the state from Alabama. The upper part of it 
waters the north-west part of Georgia. 

Sec. XVII. ALABAMA. — Mobile bay is an ex- 
panded water, projecting into the south end of the 
state, from the gulf of Mexico, westward of Florida. 

The Tombeckbee river, enters the state from the 
eastern line of Mississippi, and receiving in its course 
the Black Warrior river, forms a conjunction with 
the Alabama. When united, they compose the Mo- 
f)iie river, which discharges in the head of Mobile 
l>ay. 

The Coosa is formed of various branches, bearing 

various names, rising among the terminations of the 

Alleghany mountains, in the north-west of Georgia, 

After entering the state, It meanders to the west, and 

23 



266 WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 

afterwards to the south, till at the Hickory Grounds, 
it receives the Talapoosa. From thence it bears the 
name of Alabama; which, by a very crooked course, 
passes southward, till it is joined by the Tombeck- 
bee, forming the Mobile. 

The Catahoochee separates the south-east part of 
the state from Georgia. 

The north part of the state is intersected by the 
Tennessee river, which enters the state at its north- 
east point, and after a very crooked course, return? 
into Tennessee, at the north-west point of Alabama. 

Sec. XVIII. MISSISSIPPI.— The great Missis- 
sippi is the western boundary of the state. The prin- 
cipal branches, which pass into it after watering the 
state, are the Yazoo and Black rivers. 

Pearl river, after watering the middle of the state, 
becomes the dividing line between it and Louisiana^ 
discharging into lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, by 
several outlets. 

The Pascagoula is formed of many small rivers, 
which water the south-east part of the state. Taking 
a south course, it enters the gulf of Mexico, near lake 
Borgne. 

The north-eastern section of the state, is plentifully 
watered by the Tombeckbee. 

Sec. XIX. LOUISIANA. ^-Lake Borgne is a large 
inlet from the gulf of Mexico, in the eastern extre- 
mity of the state. Lake Pontchartrain, an extensive 
water, situated north of New Orleans, is connected 
with lake Borgne by a strait, at the mouth of Pearl 
river. At its western end it connects by a strait, with 
the smaller lake Maurepas, which receives Amite 
river. 

The southein part of the state, being a flat, marshy 
country, contains many small lakes, and passages for 
water, bearing different names. Some of them con- 
nect with the Mississippi, at great distances from its 
principal discharge, and serve as outletSj for a part 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 2G7 

of the immense body of water descending its vast 
channel. 

The Mississippi bounds the upper part of the state 
eastward, and passing south-east, enters the gulf of 
Mexico by many outlets; which appear to have 
changed their position, with the advances of time, 
according as the vast alluvial deposites of sediment, 
descending from the upper country, may have form- 
ed new embankments, and caused the waters to open 
for themselves fresh channels. 

The Sabine river, approaching the state from 
Mexico, bounds the greater part of its western side 
to the gulf of Mexico. 

Red river enters the north-west of the state, from 
the Arkansas territory; and passing south-east, joins 
the Mississippi, near the south-west point of the state 
of Mississippi. 

The Washita enters the state from the north, and 
unites with Red river, twenty miles above its mouth. 

Sec. XX. TENNESSEE.— The Mississippi is the 
western boundary of the state. 

Tennessee river rises among the mountains, on the 
confines of Virginia; and passing south-westerly, be- 
tween their ridges, enters Alabama. Crossing that 
state, it returns into Tennessee, and passes northward 
into Kentucky. 

Cumberland river enters the state from the south- 
east of Kentucky, and after a meandering course of 
nearly two hundred miles, returns into Kentucky, 
near the egress of the Tennessee. 

Sec. XXI. KENTUCKY.— Ohio bounds the state 
on the north, and the Mississippi on the west. 

The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers cross the 
state near its western extremity, where they combine 
with the Ohio. 

Green river waters the state from its middle parts, 
and unites with the Ohio, near the south-west con- 
fines of Indiana, 



268 WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 

Kentucky and Licking rivers abundantly water 
the eastern parts of the state, and enter the Ohio — 
the former at Port William, fifty miles above Louis- 
ville, and the latter, opposite Cincinnati. 

T'he branches of the Cumberland river, are spread 
over the south-east of the state, before it enters Ten- 
nessee. 

Sec. XXII. OHIO. — The Ohio river bounds this 
state on the south, and separates it from Virginia and 
Kentuck}^ 

The Muskingum, the Sciota, and the Great Miami, 
after watering the middle parts of the state, descend 
into the Ohio — the first at Marietta — the second at 
Portsmouth, near the middle longitude of the state — 
and the last, on the line of Indiana. 

The Maumee, crossing the north-west part of the 
state, enters lake Erie, through the corner of the 
Michigan territory. 

The Cayahoga, a small river, enters lake Erie at 
Cleaveland. It supplies a part of the line of canal, 
through the state, southward. 

Sec. XXIII. INDIANA. — The Ohio is its southern 
boundary. 

The Wabash, formed from many streams in the 
northerly part of the state, takes a south-west direc- 
tion, to the border of Illinois. From thence, it marks 
the line between the two states, one hundred and fifty 
miles, to its junction with the Ohio. 

The many branches of White river, are distributed 
over the south section of the state. This river enters 
the Wabash, fifty miles above its mouth. 

The northern section of the state, is watered by 
branches of the Maumee of lake Erie — the St. Jo- 
seph's of lake Michigan — and streams descending to 
the Illinois. In the north-west, the state is connect- 
ed with lake Michigan. 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 269 

Sec. XXIV. ILLINOIS. — The Mississippi is its 
western boundary, and the Wabash the eastern boun- 
dary of its lower part. On the south is the Ohio. 

The Illinois river, by its many branches, waters 
the north-east, and middle parts of the state, and 
passing diagonally, enters the Mississippi above the 
mouth of the Missouri. 

The north-west of the state is watered by Rock river, 
and the south-west by Kaskaskia, — tributaries to the 
Mississippi. The north-east is connected with lake 
Michigan. 

Sec. XXV. MISSOURI.— The Mississippi bounds 
the great extent of its east side; but De Moyen a small 
part of the north-east. 

The great Missouri crosses the state near its mid- 
dle, from the Missouri territory to the Mississippi. 

The important southern branches of the Missouri, 
are the Osage, — an extensive river, which enters the 
state from the west, and unites with the Missouri 
about the middle of the state — -and the Gasconade, 
which rises in the Ozack mountains; and running 
northward, enters the Missouri river eastward of the 
Osage. 

The principal branches of the Missouri, which en- 
ter it from the north, are the Grand river, and the 
Great and Little Charitan. 

Sec. xxvi. MICHIGAN TERRITORY.— This 
territory being nearly enclosed by the large lakes 
Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, and Erie, its rivers are 
all, comparatively, short and small. The chief are 
St. Joseph^s, in the south-west — Grand river, in the 
west — Ottoway, discharging in Grand Traverse bay, 
in the north-west — and Saginaw river and bay, in 
the east. Saginaw bay projects into the territory, 
from lake Huron, nearly sixty miles. 

Sec. xxvii. NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY. 
Mississippi is its western boundary. 

23* 



270 WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 

Wisconson, or Ouisconson river, running from the 
north to the south-west of the territory, discharges in 
the Mississippi, at Prairie du Chiens, or Dog Meadow. 

Chippeway, St. Croix, and Rum rivers, are branches 
of the Mississippi, discharging more northward, in 
succession as named: the latter near the falls of St 
Anthony. 

St. Louis's river communicates w^ith the west end 
oi" lake Superior, which bounds much of the north 
of the territory, and Michigan of the east. 

Sec. XXVIII. MISSOURI TERRITORY.— The 

great Missouri, is exceedingly serpentine in its course, 
running, by its windings, nearly 2000 miles, from 
the Rocky mountains, till it enters the state of Mis- 
souri. 

Its south-western branches, Kongas, Platte, and 
Yellow Stone, are large, and very extensive, rising 
in the Rocky mountains. 

Its most extensive northern branch, is James river, 
which runs south, crossing five degrees of latitude. 

The Arkansas, divides between this territory and 
Mexico, for a great distance, from the Rocky moun- 
tains eastward. Afterward crossing the territory, it 
enters the x\rkansas territory, and passes into the 
Mississippi. 

De Moyen, and St. Peter's rivers, are branches of 
the Upper Mississippi; the former discharging at the 
state of Missouri. 

Red river, of the north, passes north, from the 

north-east of the territory into the British dominions. 

The Columbia river, formed by the junction of 

Lewis's river and Clarke's river, rising in the Rocky 

mountains, passes westward into the Pacific ocean. 

Though we have heretofore treated of this territo- 
ry, as extending to the Pacific ocean, it appears to be 
a growing custom with geographers, to denominate 
the western part, from the Rocky mountains to the 
Pacific, ^'The Western," or *' Oregon territory." 



WATERS OF THE SEVERAL STATES. 271 

When this name is found in modern authors, its ap- 
plication may be thus understood. 

Sec. XXIX. ARKANSAS. — The Arkansas river 
enters the territory from the north, one hundred and 
fifty miles west of the state of Missouri, and runnin^:^ 
south-easterly, four hundred miles, enters the Mis- 
sissippi, seventy-five miles above the line of Louis- 
iana. 

The Canadian river, composed of three large 
branches, embraces much of the western part, and 
unites with the Arkansas, near the middle of the 
territory. 

White river enters the Mississippi from the north, 
near the mouth of the Arkansas. Its many, and 
wide spread branches, water the north-eastern part of 
the territory. 

Red river, on the south, separates the territory 
from Mexico, and passes into Louisiana. 

The W^ashita waters the south-east section of the 
territory, till it enters Louisiana. 

Sec. xxx. TERRITORY OF FLORIDA.— The 

coasts of Florida, being surrounded on three sides by 
the Atlantic and gulf of Mexico, are generally flat 
and level. They are abundantly indented with inlets 
and bays, extending to short distances inland, which 
receive numerous small streams. 

St. John's river rises in the southern part of the 
territory, and running two hundred miles northward, 
nearly parallel with the coast, enters the ocean from 
the north-east of the territory. 

The Apalachicola crosses the territory from the 
south-west point of Georgia. 



272 



CHAPTER II. 

COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE 
STATES. 

SECTION I. MAINE. 

A LARGE proportion of Maine is yet a wilderness 
but little explored, and therefore is but little known. 

Its vast forests, where the labors of man have pe- 
netrated, abound with timber of various names and 
descriptions; suitable for the purposes of ship build- 
ing, and for masts, spars, scantling for house build- 
ing, boards, and general lumber. Many of the in- 
habitants find a profitable employment in penetra- 
ting the forests, and converting their products into 
such forms as their difierent markets require; for 
which purpose they have many saw mills. Great 
quantities of their inferior wood are converted into 
potash. 

The southern parts of the state, only, have been 
cleared. The soil and climate are not favorable to 
the production of wheat. The surface is generally 
rough and uneven — better adapted to grazing than 
annual cultivation; though large crops of summer 
produce are raised. Oats grow luxuriantly, and the 
potatoe is cultivated in abundance, on their new 
grounds, with little labor. 

Many of the people are engaged in the fisheries, 
and business connected with them. And many others 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 273 

pursuing a sea faring line, are employed in the trade 
" of conveying the produce of their fisheries, their fo- 
rests, and their grazing farms, to their various markets; 
and in extending their commerce largely in the coast- 
ing trade, as well as more distant enterprises. An 
important item of export consists in great quantities 
of lime, which they manufacture from their native 
lime stone, and send to distant ports secured in tight 
hogsheads. The amount of shipping owned in the 
state, is very large, in comparison with its general 
population. The business of manufacturing is not 
yet extensive. The air of this most northern state is 
pure and healthy, though the climate is subject to 
great extremes of heat and cold. 



•■?.■. 



SECTION II. NETV HAMPSHIRE. 

The northern parts of New Hampshire are rough 
and mountainous, and except on the high, rocky^ 
sterile elevations, abounding with timber. 

This section of the state contains the highest moun- 
tains east of the Mississippi, under the general name 
of the White Mountains, though different peaks and 
elevations bear difierent names. Mount Washington, 
in Coos county, is the highest; its elevation being 
6224 feet above the level of the sea; where the snow 
lies ten months in the year, and during the remain- 
ing season, it is generally capped with a dense white 
fog. Its elevation renders it visible at a great dis- 
tance at sea, and it is to mariners an important land- 
mark. 

The remaining forests furnish the means for an ex- 
tensive manufacture of potash. 

The middle parts are hilly, and though in these 
regions, and in the south, are many fertile and well 
cultivated tracts, yet the general character of the soil 
renders it more fit for grazing, than for annual cul- 



274 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

tivation. Hence, dairies, and the raising of cattle, 
horses, and sheep, are important objects of attention. 
The state contains mines of iron ore. The produce 
of these, and of the forests and dairies, furnish the 
chief articles of export to the industrious and orderly 
population; except so far as they participate in the 
iDUsiness of the fisheries; but in these, as they have 
so little sea coast, and but one port, they are less in- 
terested than the people of other states. Manufac- 
tures, however, are becoming a concern of growing 
importance. 



sECTioxx III. VERMONT. 

The state being divided longitudinally, by the 
Green mountain, into its eastern and western sec- 
tions, and this elevation being itself rough, and in 
son:e parts lofty and rugged, extends its character of 
unevenness to each section, excepting the extreme 
eastern and western borders. The soil is, however, 
generally productive, and the cleared grounds are de- 
voted to agriculture and pasturage, as the character of 
the different portions indicates to be to the most ad- 
vantage. 

The cultivators pay much attention to the raising 
of horses, cattle, and sheep, for the supply of dis- 
tant markets, and for the growth of wool; and the 
feeding of cattle and keeping dairies, are in general, 
leading objects. 

The forests remain to be extensive, and abound 
with valuable timber; and the manufacture of potash 
is largely pursued. Late discoveries have brought 
to light iron mines, of the most superior quality; the 
working of which has become an object of large busi- 
ness, and of great interest. The state contains very 
extensive quarries of beautiful marble; which re- 
ceives the finest polish; and is sent to other parts as an 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 275 

article of trade. Their manufactures of wool and cot- 
ton, are lively, profitable, and growing; concerns. 

As in the other New England states, wheat is but 
little cultivated, except on the western border. Rye, 
and summer produce generally, are the objects of the 
farmer's annual attention. From these they feed 
their fatting cattle, and sustain their families. 

In the New England states generally, the apple 
orchard is an object of great interest; and cider, as a 
luxury, their principal drink: but the climate does 
not admit of the perfect growth and ripening of the 
peach. 

This state having no shipping port, its export trade, 
except in the stock which travels to market on foot, 
is conducted either by land transportation, to Boston, 
Troy, and Albany, or by means of the northern canal 
of New York, or the flat boat navigation of Con* 
necticut river. The state, on the whole, is increas- 
ing in wealth, and is a thriving and prosperous section 
of the Union; the habits of the population being those 
of industry and general morality; and the mass of 
the people well educated in common literature. 



SECTION IV. MASSACHUSETTS. 

The surface of this state exhibits great variety. 
Much of the soil abounds with loose stones, as well 
as with those of a large size; so firmly fixed in the 
ground as to present many obstructions to the plough. 
Of the first, the fiirmers, as in other New England 
states, build their fences, and the latter render the 
improved grounds generally, more fit for pasturage 
than annual cultivation. Agriculture, however, claims 
an important rank amongst the pursuits of the inha- 
bitants; and for its encouragement, and for mutual 
improvement, by a communication of experimental 
knowledge, societies are formed; and annual exhibi- 



276 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

tions of specimens of jDroduction of live stock, of im- 
provements in implements, and skill in the operations 
of husbandry, are instituted. 

The eastern parts of the state are generally uneven, 
and in some districts poor and sandy. As we advance 
westward, the hills increase in height, till in the west- 
ern section, the surface becomes very mountainous. 
In the valley of the Connecticut river, however, and 
in some other districts, the surface is pleasant, the 
quality of the soil excellent, and the farms highly and 
profitably cultivated. 

The timber of the state, crossing its middle from 
east to west, is observed to be generally dwarfish, and 
fit for little use, except for a plentiful supply of fuel. 

Manufactures have become a great and very impor- 
tant object of pursuit, and are efficiently conducted, 
upon an extensive scale, in different establishments, 
in many parts of the state, both in the east and in the 
west. Of these, those of cotton, and wool, are per- 
haps the most prominent. Other branches are never- 
theless numerous. Amongst them we number crown 
and common window glass; machine, and hand cards; 
machinery of various kinds; leather, nails, shoes, 
straw hats, and a great variety of other articles. 

The raising of sheep, for their supplies of wool, is 
an object of great interest in the New England states 
generally. 

The subject of general education, claims a remarka- 
ble share of attention; and their common schools are 
established and systematized by law. There is rare- 
ly to be found a member of the community, who is 
not sufficiently taught in school literature, for the com- 
mon purposes of life. Scholars of a higher grade are 
numerous; and the publishers of books appear to be 
emulous of excelling, in their number and fitness of 
productions, designed for the moral instruction of 
children and youth. 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 277 



SECTION V. RHODE ISLAND. 

The people of this state partake of the general cha- 
racter of the other New England states, with respect 
to industry and moral habits. Though the state is 
the smallest in the Union its surface is diversified — 
the islands, and parts of the coast, being very fertile, 
and very beautiful and well cultivated, and the north- 
ern parts hilly. 

The state is famed for the large quantity, and good 
quality of its cheese; which is an important article of 
export. 

Its manufactures, particularly of cotton goods, are 
very extensively conducted; and have been the source 
of wealth to individuals engaged in them. Here, the 
first regular enterprises, in this branch of business, 
were conducted; which required a long time of pa- 
tient, industrious, and economical perseverance, in 
acquiring the skill and experience necessary to arrive 
at perfection. 

The production of cotton goods continues here to 
take the lead of other states. But in speaking of the 
amount of the various productions of the state, we 
must be understood as having a reference to its small 
surface, and comparative amount of population. 



SECTION VI. CONNECTICUT. 

Connecticut contains an ingenious, frugal, and in- 
dustrious population. These traits of character, com- 
bined with a general regularity of moral conduct, have 
ensured them a competent portion of wealth. 

The surface of the state in general is rough and un- 
even, and much of it stony and difficult of tillage. — 
Agriculture is, nevertheless, pursued to profitable ef- 
fect; and products, commonly called garden vegeta- 
bles, are raised to a surprising amount per acre, and 
24 



278 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

find a profitable market in other states; particularly 
for the supply of vessels going to sea. The raising 
of sheep for the growth of w^ool and for the markets, 
and grazing and the keeping of dairies for the ma- 
nufacture of cheese, employ a great proportion of 
their lands which are the least fitted for annual cul- 
ture. 

The north-western part of the state is mountainous, 
and very rough. The valley of Connecticut river is, 
however, of a soil so rich, productive, and easy of cul- 
tivation, and its different portions so desirable, as to 
have been styled the garden of New England. 

Before the settlement of the west of New York, 
and the states north-west of the Ohio, Connecticut 
was famed for producing the finest cattle seen upon 
the meadows of Pennsylvania, to which they were 
often brought. 

The people are very enterprising; and notwith- 
standing they conduct comparatively a limited foreign 
trade from their own ports, they possess a large in- 
terest, and furnish many seamen, in the vessels trading 
from New York. 

Their manufactures of cotton, wool, and iron, are 
in an advanced and prosperous state. Much of the 
produce of these is exported: beside a valuable ag- 
gregate of a great variety of manufactures of minor 
consideration. 

The propagation of the silk worm has been attend- 
ed to in the state with great success; and the quantity 
of raw silk now exported annually, is of astonishing 
amount, considering the lateness of its introduction. 



SECTION VII. NEW YORK. 

The eastern section of this state may be termed, in 
some parts, mountainous. The Blue mountain enters 
the state from New Jersey, and other ridges rise 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 279 

nearer the Hudson. In the passage up the river, these 
are called " the Highlands.'^ 

The Catskill mountain, of comparatively great ele- 
vation, is intersected by the Hudson river, near the 
city of Hudson. The perpendicular cliffs, rugged pro- 
jections, and overhanging promontories, of the rocks 
on either shore, present to voyagers on the river, a 
succession of views highly romantic, and sublimely 
picturesque. From the appearance of the severed 
parts, it may easily be imagined that the mountain 
has, by some great convulsion, or by the accumulated 
force of water, at some remote period, pressing above 
for a vent, been rent to its foundation. And so com- 
plete has been the effect, that a passage is opened for 
a free influx of the tides of the ocean, one hundred 
and twenty miles distant, in a deep channel, naviga- 
ble for large ships. 

On the summits of the mountain, are erected houses 
of entertainment, for those who, disgusted with a city 
confinement, are seeking a summer recreation, or 
who travel for health, and the pleasure of viewing the 
diversified scenes, presented in the different regions 
of our favored land. 

These houses are approached by circuitous passages 
cut in the side of the mountain, forming a spiral or 
zigzag ascent. And from these retreats, the visitor 
is sometimes gratified by observing the play of the 
vivid lightning, and the hues of the deeply tinted 
rainbow, on the upper surface of the clouds, spread 
out as an expanded lake below him. 

Though some districts under cultivation in this 
quarter are rou^h, and very stony, and difficult of 
tillage, the soil is productive in grass; which fur- 
nishes the requisite support for extensive dairies. 

The north-eastern section of the state partakes of 
the general character of the states eastward of it; but 
in the vicinity of the east end of Lake Ontario, are 
extensive tracts of surpassing richness of soil, and 
vegetable productions. 



280 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

The western parts are generally agreeably level; 
the western canal, in one instance, passing more than 
sixty miles on a level elevated plain, without a lock. 
The soil of this western region, is of the character of 
first rate land; easy of tillage, and very productive 
in wheat, corn, natural and artificial grasses, fruit, 
and other species of summer produce. Great and 
constantly increasing quantities of wheat, are annual- 
ly brought to New York, either in grain, or manu- 
factured. Pork, beef, and other produce, are in 
similar proportions; and numerous herds of cattle 
and sheep are driven to a market, amongst the gra- 
ziers of Pennsylvania. 

Many portions of this country having been quite 
lately brought into cultivation, though now densely 
peopled, and adorned with neat, and even many ele- 
gant houses, with large barns, and other substantial 
improvements, present the singular appearance of 
the stumps of the heavy native forests, thickly set 
over the surface of the farms, and in the streets of po- 
pulous towns. Great quantities of lumber and staves 
are brought down the canal. 

Manhattan and Long Islands, contain the garden 
grounds for the supply of the city of New York. 
The latter is divided into three counties. Kings, 
Queens, and Suffolk, which are productive in grain, 
and the common articles of vegetable culture; and 
the eastern parts of the island produce an abundant 
growth of wood, for the purposes of fuel. They sup- 
ply much of the consumption of the city of New 
York. The inhabitants are compensated for any want 
of fertility in the sandy unproductive districts, by the 
variety of excellent sea fish, taken at all seasons of 
the year, on the coasts of the island. The constant 
supply of those fish in the New York markets, is pro- 
verbial. 

Staten Island, which of itself composes the county 
of Richmond, is hilly and moderately productive. 

In the northern section of the state, near lake 
Champlain, late discoveries have brought to light an 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 281 

abundant supply of excellent iron ore; the reducing 
of which into castings and bar iron, has become a 
great, growing, and profitable business. Other parts 
of the state are not remarkable for metallic sub- 
stances. 

The salt mines of Salina, in the west, are very 
rich, and furnish large quantities of salt from the ma- 
nufactories. The hydraulic cement is of late disco- 
very, on the line of the western canal. It is a kind 
of lime, which forms a strong impenetrable cement 
under water; and has been of great importance in li- 
ning the bottoms and sides of canals, where they pass 
over porous grounds, or rocky places, otherwise very 
difficult to secure from leaking. Common lime stone 
is plentiful on the Hudson, and excellent buildins: 
and paving stone, on its shores, near the city. 

The characteristic pursuits of the citizens of the 
state, are divided in fair proportion, between agricul- 
ture, manufactures, and commerce. The manufacture 
of flour holds a conspicuous rank among them; the 
many waterfalls near the Hudson, and on the west- 
ern waters, furnishing ample propelling power. 

The manufacture of cotton and woollen fabrics, pa- 
per, and many other products of mechanical skill, are 
great and growing concerns, as well in the newly set- 
tled as older parts. 

The manufacture of glass is conducted upon a large 
scale, in the noi'th of the state near lake Champlain. 

The construction of every kind of machinery, in 
brass, iron, and wood, for the use of the home manu- 
facturers, and for other purposes in distant parts, is 
conducted in various large establishments, in differ- 
ent parts of the state. The large amount of shipping 
furnishes employment to many hundreds, in the ma- 
nufacture of iron work, cordage, and every article 
necessary to the commercial interest, beside those 
employed in the construction of ships. 

The cities, and many towns of the state, are emi- 
nently commercial. Some of the merchants, in cities 
24* 



282 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

and towns far distant from the ocean, have themselves 
become importers. And the citizens of several of 
the towns on the Hudson, are engaged in the distant 
whale fisheries. 



SECTION VIII. NEW JERSEY. 

The Blue mountain ranges along the north-western 
quarter of New Jersey, to its intersection by the river 
Delaware. The northern part of the state is general- 
ly hilly, and some portions of it rough and stony, 
though cultivated to advantage. Other portions are 
pleasantly undulating and fertile. 

In some of the northern parts are found rich level 
tracts, which are wet, by reason of their flatness. 
These are generally capable of being converted into 
profitable meadow and grazing grounds, by an exten- 
sive plan of draining. The timber in the north is not 
luxuriant, though presenting much variety. 

The southern half of the state composes a part of 
the alluvial district, noted in a chapter of our second 
book. It presents a great variety of soil; almost 
every county having large portions of rich meadow 
and arable land, as well as larger tracts of sandy soil, 
covered with pitch pine, and other timber of inferior 
growth. 

Those pine forests are sufficiently extensive and 
dense, to afford a refuge and places of breeding, for a 
considerable number of the native deer; which have 
continued there from the first settlement: the inter- 
vening cultivated portions of this state and Pennsyl- 
vania, cutting off their retreat to the northern moun- 
tains. These are objects of the assiduous pursuit of 
the huntsman, every autumn, and good venison is a 
common treat upon the tables of the iron masters, 
whose dwellings are embosomed within those forests. 
A few also, of the common black bears find there 
a refuge; making occasional excursions to the culti- 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 283 

vated grounds. A few years ago, a waggish carter, 
having heard of the natural fondness of this animal 
for honey, took it into his head, to turn the circum- 
stance to his own advantage. Being engaged in cart- 
ing wood from the forests, to a neighbouring landing, 
in time of a light snow, he observed the track of a 
bear cross his road, where it appeared to have fre- 
quently passed and re-passed. Having procured an 
earthen vessel, he put into it a quantity of honey, in- 
timately mingled with as much whiskey as he sup- 
posed would produce intoxication. Placing his pot 
among the bushes, in the way of the track, at some 
distance from the road, he examined it from time to 
time as he passed. At length, on a visit to his pot, 
he found it emptied, and the poor creature sprawling 
upon the ground beside it, in as pitiable a state of 
helpless drunkenness, as is common to see any de- 
graded animal in human form; unable to do any thing 
but utter a piteous whining cry. In this state he 
hoisted the creature into his wagon, drove to the 
next town, and sold him before he had time to reco- 
ver. Being chained by his purchaser, he soon sub- 
mitted to restraint, and became domesticated. 

In the sandy parts, but little cultivation is attempt- 
ed, except in the neighbourhood of the tides on the 
sea coast. On the torpid tide creeks and rivers, is 
much marshy ground, some of which is of a deep rich 
soil. 

On the side of the state next the Delaware, much 
of the land is very productive, and being of easy til- 
lage, is a desirable farming district. 

In the pine district are numerous tracts of wet 
ground, covered with white cedar. These swamps 
are in consequence very valuable. The soil of the 
poorer land is remarkably adapted to the rapid growth 
of many species of forest trees, which become ripe at 
an early age, and moderate stature, and from which, 
by repeated cutting, immense quantities of wood, in 
the form of fuel, have annually contributed to the 



284 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

comfort and important accommodation of the neigh- 
bouring cities. 

Wheat, rye, corn, oats, and buckwheat, and natH- 
ral and artificial grasses, with lumber of cedar and 
pine, are the staple vegetable productions of New 
Jersey. The state is famed for the superior quality 
of its hams, pork, and lard; and for the abundance of 
its cheese; for the production of which large dairies 
are maintained. In the neighbourhood of Philadel- 
phia, the abundance and excellence of culinary vege- 
tables, peaches, and melons, cultivated for the supply 
of the city markets, are proverbial. 

The state contains extensive deposites of iron ore; 
in the north, of a stony form, and in the south, granu- 
lated or earthy. Furnaces for working it are numer- 
ous; and the quality of the metal is excellent for the 
manufacture of castings. Lime stone is found in some 
of the northern counties. 

In the alluvial district, a marine substance is im- 
bedded, at various depths below the surface, which 
has been found to operate as a valuable manui'e. 

Extensive manufactures of cotton and woollen 
goods, are in operation, and annually rising in impor- 
tance. The manufactures of pig and bar iron, and 
castings, comprise a very important item of the wealth 
of the state. Other species of manufacture are nume- 
rous. Many establishments for the manufacture of 
glass, have long been conducted with success. And 
paper-mills are large and successfully in operation. 

The internal commerce of the state is lively and 
very active, but its export trade passes generally 
through Philadelphia and New York. 

The channels of trade, by artificial thoroughfares, 
are subjects of lively interest. The northern parts 
are intersected by two canals, to connect the coal re- 
gions of Pennsylvania with the markets of New York; 
and in the middle, a canal and rail-road are forming, 
for the purposes of travelling, and a general thorough- 
fare route of trade, by inland transportation, between 
the east and the south. 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 285 



Section ix. PENNSYLVANIA. 

The surface of Pennsylvania is greatly diversified. 
The fertile agricultural districts, may be included un- 
der the terms level, undulating, and hilly, according 
as those different characters alternately prevail. The 
mountainous districts, occupied by the different ridges 
and spurs of the great Apalachian chain, engross much 
of the middle and southern portions of the state. 
From about its middle latitude, on its eastern boun- 
dary, upon the Delaware, they take their general di- 
rection south-westerly, till they pass off, across the 
narrow western counties of Maryland, into Virginia. 

The different ridges of the mountainous chain, take 
the names of the Blue Mountain, the Tuscarora, the 
Alleghany, Laurel Hill, and Chesnut Ridge, as they 
succeed each other westward; having other ridges of 
less elevation intervening. 

They embrace within their precincts, either whol- 
ly, or to a greater or less extent, the counties of 
Northampton, Schuylkill, Dauphin, Union, Perry, 
Mifflin, Huntington, Bedford, Cambria, and Somer- 
set, with portions of the adjoining counties, on the 
south-east, on the north, and on the west. 

Between them are many beautiful valleys, and ex- 
tensive tracts, composing ranges of large townships, 
which have been many years under cultivation; rich, 
fertile, and well improved: and many parts of the lands 
termed mountainous, are subjected to, or capable of, 
an easy and profitable cultivation. Where these tracts 
remain uncultivated, they are clothed with valuable 
timber, of great variety. 

The heights of the mountains, though presenting 
here and there, fine level, or gently declining land- 
scapes, adorned with substantial improvements, and 
springs of purest water, and exhibiting distant pros- 
pects grandly picturesque, are generally of a rough 



286 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

and rugged surface; and some of them, either formed 
of stupendous, craggy rocks and precipices, or com- 
posed of immense piles of loose stones, and sterile, 
to a degree forbidding all future cultivation: though 
bearing in many parts, a burden of forest growth, 
which would seem to be inaccessible, by any profita- 
ble efforts of human labour. 

Asa compensation for their sterility, the mountain- 
ous districts, contain in diflerent positions, mineral 
treasures of incalculable value. In them are found 
the vast deposites of anthracite coal. These, occupy 
the country upon the eastern waters of the Susque- 
hanna, and upon the Schuylkill and the Lehigh; ex- 
tending north of the mountains, till they approach 
the Delaware. Upon the western waters of the Sus- 
quehanna, bituminous coal, of superior quality, pre- 
vails to a great extent; re-appearing in the western 
counties, upon the branches of the Ohio. 

In various sections of the mountainous region, as 
w^ell as in the adjoining counties, south, north, and 
west, mines of iron ore are so numerous and exten- 
sive, as to be supposed to be equal to all our national 
wants, for many ages. The metal of some of those 
ores, particularly near the middle of the state, is 
found to possess qualities of very uncommon excel- 
lence, for the manufacture of steel, and for the finest 
purposes to which iron can be applied. The forges 
and furnaces for the manufacture of iron in those 
counties, amount to nearly two hundred and fifty. 

Many counties contain unbounded quantities of 
the best lime stone. Hydraulic cement is plentiful in 
some districts; and marble, of various beautiful shades, 
prevails on the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia. 

The south-eastern section of the state, including 
the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, 
Delaware, Chester, Lancaster, York, Adams, Frank- 
lin, and Cumberland, and parts of Northampton, Le- 
high, Berks, and Lebanon, comprises an extensive 
agricultural district; a large proportion of which is 
land of first quality; generally in a state of cultiva- 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 287 

tion highly productive; as well as furnished with 
buildings and improvements, neat, commodious, and 
handsome, and of the most substantial construction. 

The western counties partake of the same charac- 
ters of soil; and, according to the date of their settle- 
ment, the same style of progressive improvement. 

The northern ranges of the state, from east to west, 
are of later settlement, and in many parts, yet remain 
in the state of original forests, clothed with heavy 
burdens of timber. Extensive portions of them are 
rich, and favourable to productive cultivation; and 
present highly valuable inducements, to persons dis- 
posed to seek new homes, where lands are very 
cheap, and the advantages of an easy transport of 
produce are promised, by the great plans of internal 
improvement, conducting to maturity, under the au- 
thority of the state. 

Wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley, and natural and 
artificial grasses, are prevalent objects of the Pennsyl- 
vania agriculturist's attention; though many other 
species of vegetable culture, claim their share, accord- 
ing to their respective value. But, as the soil and situ- 
ations, so are the pursuits of the farmers diversified. 
The breeding of valuable horses, and the raising and 
fatting of cattle, sheep, and swine, are objects of their 
general care. Immense quantities of wool are raised 
in the western counties. The manufacture of butter 
is an art well understood, and claiming great atten- 
tion. The markets of Philadelphia, and occasionally, 
those of the cities of the neighbouring states, are abun- 
dantly supplied with the finest beef, from the rich al- 
luvial meadows of the Delaware, and the surrounding 
highly cultivated districts. 

As Pennsylvania is emphatically an agricultural, so 
it is extensively and eminently a manufacturing state: 
its products of mechanical skill being greatly diversi- 
fied. To present a complete enumeration, would be 
unentertaining— suffice it to say, we must hold in re- 
quisition for such an effort, the articles of wool, cot- 
ton, iron, copper, brass, marble, wood, leather, silk, 



S88 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OP THE STATES. 

and paper, in almost every form to which they are 
severally applicable. In the manufactures of the state 
many millions are embarked. A manufactory of 
porcelain has been established in Philadelphia, pro- 
mising great perfection. The cut and plain glass of 
Pittsburgh, is far famed, and glass is produced in 
other parts to large amounts. The manufactures of 
many species of edge tools, in some establishments, 
far exceed in perfection similar articles of foreign im- 
portation. The construction of ships, steamboats, 
steam engines, and machinery in general, furnishes 
employment to many hundreds of the citizens. The 
manufacture of flour is extended into every cultivated 
neighbourhood, and flour-mills are very numerous. 

Many establishments are devoted to the manufac- 
ture of paper and pasteboards, and their produce is of 
great amount. The manufacture of salt is conducted 
to a great extent in some of the western counties. 

The commercial character of the state has been no- 
ticed in our views of its eastern and western empori- 
ums. In trade, the inland towns participate in their 
several proportions, according to situations and cir- 
cumstances. From our account of the products of 
agricultural, and manufacturing industry, the articles 
of export trade may be inferred. But to these must be 
added, the products of the forests in lumber of every 
form, of the limestone and freestone quarries, and the 
large and constantly increasing amounts of mineral 
coal. 



SECTION X. DELAWARE. 

The northern part of the state is undulating, or 
pleasantly diversified with hill and dale; affording 
many situations capable of, or already adorned with, 
neat and handsome improvements. The soil varies 
in quality, from first, to second and third rates. 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 289 

The southern parts are generally level, and those 
bordering upon the tide waters, though mostly rich, 
and capable of being converted into profitable mea- 
dow and grazing grounds, are, where this purpose has 
not been effected, marshy, and unhealthy in the au- 
tumnal seasons. Some of the more elevated parts are 
poor, and others of a fine productive soil, easy ot culti- 
vation, and capable of a high degree of improvement. 
The state is not known to contain any remarkable 
native mineral treasures, of sufficient importance to 
attract general notice, except that in the southern 
part of the state, iron bog ore is in a considerable 
degree prevalent, and one furnace has been some 
years in operation. i -a 

Some of the southern low grounds, abound witli 
heavy and very valuable timber. 

In New Castle county, manufacturing industry is 
carried to a high point of consideration. The coun- 
ty is intersected by a number of fine streams, enter- 
ing it from Pennsylvania. These furnish sites for 
flour-mills and manufactories, which are mostly well 
improved. The Brandywine, entering the county 
from the north, and passing the city of Wilmington, 
is a powerful stream, which affords, by its numerous 
falls, many sites for manufacturing establishments, 
which are generally occupied. 

The principal manufactures, beside flour, are cot- 
ton and woollen goods, paper and gunpowder, and 
the establishments for these, are upon an extensive 
scale and of high character. Leather is, in Wil- 
mington, a product of importance. 

In the state as a whole, agriculture is the prevail- 
ing pursuit, and wheat and corn the staple products, 
Wilmington maintains a considerable trade with 
the neighbouring counties of Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land, and its markets are well supplied. The export 
trade generally passes through Philadelphia. Beside 
the articles already mentioned, the state furnishes 
large quantities of bark, for the tanners of Phila- 
delphia. 

25 



290 C03IPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES* 



SECTION XI. MARYLAND. 

On the side next Virginia, the state being bounded 
by the river Potomac, is described according to the 
courses of the river, by a very irregular line. The 
upper part of the river approaches so near to the line 
of Pennsylvania in two different points, as to give the 
state at those points, a breadth of only four or five 
miles, but expanding to a greater breadth, at the 
western extremity. 

The state being divided into two parts, by the pas- 
sage of the Susquehanna and Chesapeak, from north 
to south, the division bordering on the state of Dela- 
ware is called the ^' Eastern Shore/^ and the oppo- 
site side of the bay the ^'Western Shore.'' 

No mountains appear in Maryland, except the 
ridges of the Apalachian chain, crossing its narrow 
western part into Virginia. 

The surface of the Eastern Shore is generally level. 
Some parts of Cecil county, bordering on the Sus- 
quehanna, form an exception. In the south of this 
shore, a sandy or mixed soil prevails, some parts of 
which are naturally rich, and very productive, but 
the mode of farming, practised from the early settle- 
ment, has prevented a general improvement, propor- 
tioned to the advantages of soil and situation. Small 
tide creeks and rivers abounding, the shores of them 
are flat, and often unduly wet. From this circum- 
stance, and the occurrence in some parts of swampy 
ponds, the climate is often unhealthy in autumn. 

On the Western Shore, except upon the flat alJuviai 
grounds, on the bay side, the country presents gene- 
rally, a pleasing variety of elevation and depression. 

Though there are in this section, some tracts cold, 
gravelly, and sterile, the general character of several 
counties is of a medium natural quality, with por- 
tions of first rate land intermixed. In the north of 
Baltimore, and in Frederic counties, lime stone is 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 291 

abundant; and here the lands are first quality, and 
very productive. 

The chief productions by cultivation are wheat, 
corn, and tobacco. The climate is remarkably favor- 
able to their growth, and in some districts on both 
shores, wheat is much cultivated, furnishing large sup- 
plies to the flour-mills of Baltimore. 

The principle mineral product of the state is iron, 
which has been manufactured to a considerable ex- 
tent, in several parts distant from each other, from 
north-east to south-west; though at present it is less 
an object of pursuit in consequence of the partial ex- 
haustion of fuel, which, in a large proportion of the 
state, is scarce, owing to the mode and circumstances 
of cultivation. 

A quarry of marble has been opened on the Poto- 
mac, which appears to be composed of pebbles, of a 
great variety of forms and hues, cemented together in 
solid masses, by some natural process. When dressed 
and polished, it presents a very beautiful surface, 
though of very singular appearance. Masses of beau- 
tiful white marble abound in the lime stone regions 
of Baltimore county; from which the supply was ob- 
tained, for the construction of the Washington monu- 
ment, erected in the northern part of the city. 

Though agriculture is the leading pursuit of the in- 
habitants of Maryland generally, yet manufactures 
and commerce sustain a very lively interest, and are 
each conducted with spirit and enterprise becoming 
their importance, where situations and circumstances 
conspire to render their pursuit desirable, or promise 
reasonable success. Flour is the most important arti- 
cle of domestic export from the market of Baltimore, 
and generally sustains a high character. Baltimore 
is styled the best market of tobacco in the Union. 



292 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 



SECTION XII. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

The principal external features of this small terri- 
tory, will be inferred from the twelfth section of the 
next chapter. The quality of its soil exhibits consi- 
derable variety. There are some small portions on 
the side of Maryland which may be termed first rate 
land. The soil, however, in general, on this side, 
is of various textures of land of inferior quality. — 
Some parts are poor and gravelly, but the eastern 
section is light, level, inclining to sand, and of a tex- 
ture capable of improvement by the aid of the means 
derivable from all cities, into luxuriantly productive 
grounds, for gardening, and the culture of vegetable 
products of many kinds, necessary for the supply of 
a city. On the Virginia side of the river, the lands 
in general are of unpromising appearance and quality, 
except a tract of some extent contiguous to Alexan- 
dria, which is of a quality capable of improvement to 
a state of highly profitable culture. 



SECTION XIII. VIRGINIA. 

The several ridges of the great Apalachian chain 
of mountains, present a broad belt of country, across 
the middle of Virginia, as they enter from Maryland 
and Pennsylvania on the north, and pass off into North 
Carolina and Tennessee, at the south-west. 

Between these different ridges, are a number of 
extensive, beautiful, and very fruitful valleys. The 
Shanandoah valley is famed for its luxuriant growth 
of wheat, corn, and the common minor productions of 
agriculture; and the valley of the south branch of 
Potomac, is remarked, as well for its adaptation to 
those articles, as for grazing and feeding numerous 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OP THE STATES. 293 

herds of the finest cattle, for the markets of the cities 
north-eastward from it. 

In the north-western section, a part of the country 
upon the waters of the Kenhawa river, and streams 
northward, though the soil is rich, and the plains 
pleasant, a rough surface of a hilly or mountainous 
character, prevails in general. 

On the east of the mountains, is a range of country 
highly favorable to agricultural pursuits, and much of 
it very fertile; the prevalence of lime stone, particu- 
larly in the northern counties, contributing to its fer- 
tility. 

On the tide waters, and along the eastern coast for 
a great breadth, the sandy alluvial, district presents 
itself. Though the river bottoms are in many places 
luxuriantly rich, of easy cultivation, and produce 
large crops of corn and tobacco, yet those bottoms 
are comparatively narrow; and the intervening coun- 
try in general either of a medium, or a poor open soil; 
which having been long under cultivation, with little 
effort to improve it, or to preserve its ancient propor- 
tion of fruitfulness, is represented by its own inhabit- 
ants, to have become unproductive, and the display of 
former magnificence, in the style of its lordly man- 
sions, much declining, and presenting unquestionable 
signs of depreciation. 

Two of the eastern counties, Northampton and Ac- 
comack, are separated from the main body, by the 
bay of Chesapeak. They occupy the eastern Mary- 
land peninsula, from its point at cape Charles, to the 
mouth of the Pocomoke river, at the thirty-eighth 
degree of latitude. 

The pursuits of the great mass of the inhabitants 
of Virginia are agricultural, and their leading objects 
wheat, corn, and tobacco. Of latter years, however, 
the culture of cotton has divided the attention of the 
southern section of the state, and might probably be 
advantageously extended. 

The native forests are a mixture of many species of 
timber similar to the northern adjoining states. 
25* 



294 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

It has been lately discovered, that the region of 
gold extends across the state from North Carolina., 
and the business of collecting the metal is pursued 
with avidity; the deposites in some particular situa- 
tions being so rich, as to afford results highly profita- 
ble. In other parts, the indications are more decep- 
tive; tempting the adventurer on in long pursuit, 
with inadequate compensation — common circum- 
stances in the more southern parts of the gold mining 
region. 

Some of the iron mines of Virginia are very rich, 
and have been largely wrought. The bituminous coal 
mines near Richmond have long furnished a large 
part of the export^ trade from that city. 

The salt springs on the waters of the Kanhawa, 
near the Ohio, are very strongly impregnated, and 
the manufacture of salt, conducted on a large and 
profitable scale, to the amount of many thousands of 
bushels annually. 

The manufacture of flour is efficiently conducted,, 
in a number of noted establishments in different parts. 
Other manufactures, though in successful operation in 
some parts, are not in general much advanced, except 
as family concerns, for domestic purposes. 

The export trade of the state from the Atlantic 
ports, is principally in flour, grain, tobacco, and cot- 
ton. Virginia hams are, however, in high repute, in 
the markets of other states. 



SECTION XIV. NORTH CAROLINA. 

The coast of North Carolina for sixty miles in- 
land, is of the district heretofore mentioned as appa- 
rently alluvial. A range of long narrow islands and 
sand bars, lines the whole extent of the sea coast, ex- 
cept as they are occasionally severed by an inlet, or 
the discharge of a river. The inlets are generally 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 295 

shallow; which renders the navigation difficult for 
sea vessels. 

Rich rice grounds prevail along the rivers, and in 
some other situations; but generally in the alluvial 
district, the soil is sandy, poor, and dry, and covered 
in its natural state with pitch pine, much of which 
grows to a large size. Hence the scattered inhabit- 
ants employ themselves in the manufacture of pine 
boards, and in extracting the sap of the timber, in the 
form of tar, turpentine, and rosin, which together 
form a large proportion of the exports of the state. 

As we advance to the upper countr}^, the soil is 
greatly improved, and grain and cotton flourish. Here 
is presented a beautiful country. In the valleys 
among the mountains, in the western extremity, the 
land is rich, the timber in great variety and luxu- 
riance, and the climate in the whole upland and 
western regions of the state, being mild, pleasant, 
and healthy, a residence is rendered agreeable. 

The products of agriculture are rice in the low 
moist lands, and cotton, corn, wheat, and tobacco, in 
the uplands. The raising of cattle was formerly a 
favorite object, and many were driven to a market in 
the states northward. Swine also, are bred in abun- 
dance. As the winters are generally very mild, but 
little provision for live stock is required, beyond 
what they can themselves procure, in their woodland 
ranges. 

The accidental discovery in the western part, about 
thirty years ago, of a mass of gold nearly in a pure 
state, of the value of 2500 or 3000 dollars, induced a 
further search, till discoveries gradually succeeded 
each other across the whole state. The search for 
gold became extensive, and treasure, amounting 
to many thousands, if not to millions, has been ac- 
quired. 

Though the results of the labors of adventurers are 
often precarious, and occasionally involve them in 
severe losses, by reason of not collecting a sufficient 
quantity of the precious particles to pay expenses, 



296 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

still gold, — the idol of the covetous, and the desire of 
the poor, — retains sufficient charms to urge on to new 
adventures: and a large remuneration for the labor of 
to-day, is stimulus sufficient to excite to avidity of 
pursuit to-morrow, and the day following, if not 
many days in succession; till, as in a lottery, a rare 
prize is at length obtained, or disappointment and 
chagrin are found to be the eventual reward. 

In the western regions iron ore is found in many 
places. 

In the south-east of Virginia, and north-east of 
this state, a few miles from the ocean, is a body of 
flat wet land, amounting to many thousands of acres, 
called the Dismal Swamp. On this swamp, is a vast 
body of white cedar, which furnishes an important 
article of export from each state, but particularly 
from North Carolina, in the form of shingles and 
staves. 

In the Dismal Swamp the denseness of the thick 
set forest, and the deep cavities filled with water, — 
always occurring in cedar swamps, — render the access 
to a choice of timber difficult. The swamp has, how- 
ever, been latterly penetrated, and a pass opened 
through it by a canal from Elizabeth river, near Nor- 
folk, to the w^aters of Albemarle sound; which is 
of great service for conveying the produce from the 
heart of the forest. 

The dark fastnesses of this forest remain to be 
places of refuge for some of the native wild beasts. 
The wolf and the bear find there a safe retreat, where 
human daring will rarely follow them. 

Manufactures of a domestic character occupy the 
attention of the farmer's family, for the clothing of 
its members. The exports of the state, are chiefly 
rice, cotton, and tobacco; with shingles, boards, tar, 
rosin, and turpentine. 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 297 



SECTION XV. SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The higher and lower grounds of this state are of 
a character similar to those of North Carolina. Rice 
is the object of culture in the low rich river bottoms, 
and lands fitted for natural or artificial inundations. 

Cotton is abundantly produced in the plain coun- 
try, beyond the poor sandy range. The exports of 
this article have been some years ago, of great annual 
value. Hence, the merchants of Charleston enjoyed a 
large share of prosperity, and the planter received 
an abundant reward. 

The highly fertile soil of the new lands of Alaba- 
ma, Mississippi, and Louisiana, have, however, con- 
tributed much to reduce the value of the crops of 
South Carolina. Their abundant production, with a 
less proportionate amount of labor, have largely con- 
tributed to fill and overstock the markets, and there- 
by reduce the price; to the serious disappointment 
and chagrin of some of the planters of this state; who 
had long lived in splendor, enjoying a kind of mono- 
poly of the market. The^ir splendid habits of living, 
and liberality of expenditures, being thus restrained, 
after having become habitual, occasions their reverses 
to be the more keenly felt, and the more difficult for 
them to reconcile. 

The northern part of the state being but little 
broken by mountains, except in the extreme north- 
west, is a rich, healthy, and beautiful country of plea- 
sant cultivation; and inhabited by an industrious, and 
in general a contented population. Many of these 
occupy plantations ©f moderate size, and divide their 
labors between the culture of cotton, for exportation, 
and grain, for the sustenance of themselves and their 
families. 

Cotton and rice are the great articles of export. 



29S COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 



SECTION XVI. GEORGIA. 

The general characteristics of the surface of Geor- 
gia resemble those of the Carolinas. The rich rice bot- 
toms are extensive, and very productive. The pine 
lands of the southern section are also extensive and 
generally poor. They serve, however, by burning the 
undergrowths ever}^ year, to supply the inhabitants 
with pasture ranges and hunting grounds. The cul- 
ture of the sugar cane has been latterly introduced 
into the richer parts of the south, and affords a fair 
profit to the cultivators. 

The climate is unfavorable to the apple, but peaches 
grow and ripen in luxuriant perfection, and grapes 
and figs are abundant in every section, as are oranges 
in the south. 

In the middle and northern parts, the soil is pro- 
ductive, and much of it rich. Cotton is here the 
prime object of culture for exportation; though the 
raising of grain for the support of the population, is 
generally attended to. The plantations are here of a 
moderate size, and are managed with more care, con- 
venience, and general cont^itment, than is common 
with estates which are spread over a vast surface, 
and require hundreds of laborers. 

On common farms, where the companies of slaves 
are sm.all, and the masters treat them kindly, and 
themselves and sons participate with them in the 
labors of the plantation, to every ten acres cultivated 
in cotton, it is necessary to devote about eight acres 
to the raising of grain, for the support of the general 
family. 

In those smaller establishments,* under such a sys- 
tem of rural economy, the labors of the plantation 
generally go on with more harmony and rational en- 
joyment than in districts either on the continent or in 
the islands of America where the gangs of slaves are 
very large, and are held to their labors by the con- 
stant presence of hard hearted drivers, while the 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 299 

families of the lordly masters are supported in idle- 
ness and extravagant dissipation. 

The climate of the northern parts of Georgia is 
soft, mild, healthy, and very agreeable. Some of the 
most desirable parts have been but latterly settled, 
and considerable portions of the now broken native 
forests still remain. Here the wild turkey, the deer, 
and other species of native game, continue to range 
in profuse numbers. 

A section of the north-west corner of the state is 
occupied by spurs and fragments of the terminations 
of the great chain of the Apalachian mountains; and 
the gold region is found to extend into the northern 
parts from North Carolina. 

The soil of some parts of the state is adapted to the 
culture of indigo, which was formerly much raised 
and manufactured, till its culture was superseded by 
the more profitable growth of cotton. Cotton, rice, 
and sugars, are at present the chief exports. 

The north-western section to a considerable extent 
is still owned by the Clierokee nation of Indians; 
who have made considerable advances in the arts of 
civilized life, but who seem to be gradually removing 
to some distant region, west of the Mississippi, where 
they are persuaded to believe they may maintain 
their national character, and enjoy greater advan- 
tages than in their present situation, surrounded by 
the white population. 

The vilest characters among the frontier whites, 
after committing crimes or trespasses, against the 
laws of society, are wont to seek a refuge from jus- 
tice among this people; and there become the agents 
of disorder and riot, to the scourge of the more or- 
derly portions of the frontier society, and to the great 
tiisadvantage, and injury to the morals, of such of the 
natives as are not yet established in the principles of 
order and civilized government. 



300 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 



SECTION XVII. ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. 

So great similarity is found in the surface, soil, cli- 
mate, productions, and date of settlement, of these 
two states, that they will be included in one section. 

They are composed of a vast body of very rich 
land, and are yet but thinly peopled, in comparison 
with states of older settlement. The northern parts 
partake of a character rather mountainous. The west- 
ern part of Mississippi, composes a part of the valley 
of the Mississippi river. 

The sugar cane has been latterly introduced, and 
has become a very prominent article of culture; di- 
viding with cotton, the agricultural labours of those 
states. From the exuberant richness of the soil, the 
crops of the latter are very profuse. 

The principal supplies of food for the inhabitants, 
are brought from the states of older settlement, north- 
ward. The horses and mules used in their agricul- 
tural labours, are also derived from northern settle- 
ments. 

The middle and northern parts of these states, are 
generally sufficiently elevated and undulating, to ren- 
der the climate healthy and agreeable. The south 
being mostly composed of rich level flats, is more at- 
tended with diseases. 

The exports are of course from the articles named 
— sugars and cotton. The greater proportion of these, 
find their way to market through New Orleans; 
though a considerable portion of the export trade of 
Alabama, passes through Mobile. 

Large tracts of these states, have been till lately, 
owned and occupied by the Chickasaw and Choctaw 
nations of Indians, and portions of the tribes yet 
remain. 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OP THE STATES. 301 



SECTION XVIII. LOUISIANA. 

Louisiana is generally low and level, and for many 
miles from the gulf of Mexico, is a continued morass; 
intersected by numerous channels, which serve to dis- 
charge portions of the waters of the great river. In 
parts further distant from the gulf, swamps and small 
stagnant lakes are prevalent. 

The firm grounds are luxuriantly fertile; and pro- 
duce rich returns in sugars and cotton, for the labour 
bestowed upon them. A large proportion of the state 
is composed of rich natural meadows, which feed vast 
herds of cattle, requiring no special provision for the 
winter, on account of its tropical mildness. 

Tropical fruits, of various kinds, grow to perfec- 
tion, as winter, in many seasons, is scarcely known 
by frost or snow. These, when seen, are generally 
slight, and of short continuance. 

On account of the flatness of the country, the 
abounding of swamps and stagnant waters, and the 
annual decay of great burdens of vegetable growths, 
the climate is rendered very unhealthy; particularly 
to those who migrate from more northern latitudes. 

The exports of the state, in its own staple produc- 
tions are great, but vastly augmented by the amount 
of produce descending the river, from the more north- 
ern states. Its dependance is chiefly upon the upper 
country for flour, grain, and other articles of upland 
growth; as well as for the machinery necessary for 
sugar works. Large quantities of the implements of 
husbandry are sometimes imported from Philadelphia 
and other places. 

A great proportion of the population are descend- 
ants of the former emigrants from France; the inha- 
bitants who first planted the colony under that go- 
vernment; and a dialect of the French language, re- 
mains to be in common use with many of them. 
26 



302 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 



. SECTION XIX. TENNESSEE. 

It is common to consider this state as divided into 
east and west; the line of division being marked by 
the Cumberland mountains. The different ridges of 
the Apalachian chain, passing obliquely across East 
Tennessee, give to the surface the general character 
of mountainous roughness, or unevenness. West Ten- 
nessee has also various mountainous elevations, and in 
many parts an uneven surface, though much more 
level than the east of the state. 

Except on the rough mountain ridges, the soil is 
generally fertile, and favourable to cultivation. Two 
noble rivers, the Cumberland and Tennessee, pass- 
ing through the state, the lands in their vicinity are 
remarked for richness. 

The climate is healthy, mild, and pleasant, for re- 
sidence. It is adapted to the culture of the wheat of 
the north, and the cotton of the south. Corn, hemp, 
flax, and tobacco, are also of ample growth. Grazing, 
and the breeding of horses and cattle, are with some 
of the people, favourite and profitable pursuits. 

Iron ore is in some parts plentiful, and the manu- 
facture of iron carried to a considerable extent. Other 
manufactures in general, are mostly of a domestic 
character. 

The trade with the neighbouring states, in the ai'- 
ticles produced in this, is very considerable; though 
its insulated situation, is unfavourable to a direct ex- 
port to foreign parts. The large burden of export 
products is borne upon the fine rivers Cumberland 
and Tennessee, to the Mississippi, and thence to New 
Orleans. These rivers afford a very extensive steam 
and flat boat navigation. 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 303 



SECTION XX. KENTUCKY. 

The climate of Kentucky is mild, and generally 
healthy. It is separated from Virginia by Sandy 
river on the north-east, and by the Cumberland 
mountain on the south-east. Several spurs of this 
mountain enter the state, and render the south-eastern 
extremity rough. In general, the state in its differ- 
ent parts, is hilly, uneven, or pleasantly undulating, 
but in some parts are found considerable tracts of 
prairie. The largest of these being nearly one hun- 
dred miles in extent is now adorned with a beautiful 
growth of young timber, not yet arisen to a height 
and thickness of foliage to suppress the former de- 
lightful covering of grass, and the most beautiful 
flowering plants; which continue to spread forth their 
rich luxuriance of mingled colours through the warm 
and temperate seasons; thus exhibiting the character- 
istics of a delightful botanic garden upon a magnifi- 
cently extended scale. 

The common character of the soil is that of first 
rate land; of so great fertility as to have been on its 
early settlement, proverbial for its astonishing pro- 
duce. It is remarkably adapted to the growth of 
wheat, corn, tobacco, and hemp; all of which have 
been extensively cultivated: and the culture of cot- 
ton, though yet but partially attempted, might be 
made a profitable pursuit. 

The breeding of horses, cattle, and swine, and the 
feeding of pork, are important objects of the farmer's 
care; and are articles of extensive trade with other 
states. 

The spirit of manufacturing has been much ex- 
cited, and the practical pursuit of various branches, 
forms an active business. In the eastern section of 
the state, the manufacture of salt, from the saline 
springs, is advantageously and largely pursued. 



304 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

Mineral coal is found in various situations near the 
Ohio; and iron is a mineral of the state. Much pro- 
duce is raised for distant markets. The heavy arti- 
cles generally passing down the Mississippi to New 
Orleans. 

The country is abundantly watered, by rivers and 
smaller streams; yet the bowels of the earth being in 
some parts rocky, and abounding with caverns and 
hollow crevices, as is common in lime stone regions, 
the waters in summer, seem often to be so much ab- 
sorbed as in seasons tending to dryness to leave the 
surface in want of sufficient moisture, and render 
their mill seats of less permanent value. The beds 
of the rivers are very deep; in some places from one 
thousand to fifteen hundred feet below the upper 
level of the country, and a fifth part of this depth 
inclosed on each side with perpendicular walls of 
solid lime stone. 



'^:^- 



SECTION XXI. OHIO, INDIANA AND ILLINOIS. 

The three states north-west of the Ohio river — 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois — are, in their general cha- 
racter and circumstances, of so great similarity, that, 
to treat of them in the present instance separately, 
would probably subject the author to the charge of 
tedious repetition. 

They range in the same latitude — enjoy a general 
similarity of climate — are composed of one extended 
tract — organized upon similar principles — and peo- 
pled from the same regions, under one general plan of 
survey and settlement. 

They are laid out in sections of one mile square, 
equal to six hundred and forty acres — by lines at 
right angles, coinciding with the lines of latitude and 
longitude. Of these sections, purchasers under the 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OP THE STATES. 305 

government take a whole, a half, or a quarter, ac- 
cording to their means or inclination. 

There are no mountainous districts within them. 
The south-eastern parts of Ohio, and a part of the 
south of Indiana, are hilly. The whole remaining 
country, though in common partaking of gentle un- 
dulations, may, in a general description, be properly 
termed a level country. In many instances, the 
plains — covered in their native state, with forest 
trees of great height and circumference — are very 
extensive. 

Throughout the three states, though the soil will 
admit of some distinctive grades of quality, the coun- 
try is, as a whole, exceedingly rich and fertile. In 
the hilly parts of Ohio, though some of the hills are 
of considerable height, and hill and dale are alter- 
nated in quick succession, the summits are rounded, 
and of ascent sufficiently easy for cultivation; and 
are remarkable for being equal, if not superior, in 
quality of soil, and in productiveness, to the valleys. 
Ohio contains some tracts of prairie plains. In In- 
diana they are more numerous, and more extended. 
In Illinois they compose a considerable proportion 
of the state. The exuberant richness of some of them, 
and the manner of their cultivation, have been no- 
ticed in our second book. Chapter IV. 

In his description of the soil, the author would not 
be understood to mean, that the agriculturist will ne- 
ver be under the necessity of adopting the common 
modes practised in other districts, to sustain it in a 
state equally productive with the time of its early 
cultivation; though in much of the country it is so 
deep, as to induce the belief, that many years, of a 
constant judicious succession of crops, would be re- 
quired, to operate any very visible change. 

Wheat, corn, grasses, hemp, tobacco, and in gene- 
ral every species of vegetable culture, successful in 
similar latitudes eastward, are suited to the soil and 
climate of these states, and afford abundant production. 
26* 



306 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

It must be observed, however, that in their north- 
ern regions, swamps and small shallow lakes are nu- 
merous. In their vicinity the lands are too wet and 
flat for a profitable cultivation. 

Beside the products of a common course of agri- 
culture, horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, are bred in 
abundance; many of which are driven eastward, to 
various markets, and great quantities of pork, lard, 
and ham.s, are sent to New Orleans, and to eastern 
markets by other routes. The amount of flour, grain, 
and other heavy produce, descending the rivers to 
Nev/ Orleans, is greatly increasing annually. 

Manufacturing in Ohio, appears to keep pace with 
the progress of population and general improvement; 
and some of the most beautiful broadcloths made in 
the Union, are produced by the manufacturers of the 
state. The hilly region of the state is found, as the 
western counties of Pennsylvania, to be peculiarly 
adapted to the breeding, and healthy preservation, of 
the merino, and other varieties of sheep, and large 
flocks are maintained. 

The progress of population and cultivation west- 
ward, is proportioned to the distance from the old 
states, from whence the tide of emigration flowed. 
Thus Ohio is, on the whole, much fuller in popula- 
tion, and further advanced in general improvement 
than Indiana, and Illinois proportionally less. 

The denseness of the forests, where they are but 
very partially reduced, and the thick shade of the tall 
heavy timber, by which the rays of the sun are ex- 
cluded, are supposed to have an efiecton the climate, 
rendering it less favourable to the general health of 
the inhabitants, than where the country has become 
more opened. 

The north-west corner of Illinois, falls within the 
region of the lead mines of the Mississippi, which 
are here very rich and easily wrought. No other 
metallic mineral substances, yet discovered, are of 
suflicient amount and importance to demand notice in 
this place. Salt springs have been discovered in the 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 307 

"^south-east of Ohio; and some of them have furnished 
manufactories of salt to a considerable amount. On 
Saline river, in Illinois, similar springs are found, 
from which salt is very extensively and cheaply 
manufactured. Coal is discoverable in some parts in 
the banks of the Ohio. 

The channels of the rivers and large streams, are 
generally deep; and the banks inclosing them bold 
and steep. Many of the streams, as noticed in Ken- 
tucky, become much reduced in summer, which ren- 
ders them less to be depended upon for manufactur- 
ing purposes, than in other states eastward. 

The plans of canalling projected, and in a rapid 
course of completion, in Ohio, are very extensive. 
They include a design to open a thoroughfare through 
the state, from lake Erie to the river Ohio; and by 
their various courses, are calculated to accommodate 
a very large proportion of the community with easy 
means of transport, in either direction, as conveni- 
ence may dictate. Though they are of much easier 
construction than similar w^orks in some other states, 
on account of the absence of mountains, and precipi- 
tous rocky passes, the designs are bold and liberal, 
and indicate a high tone of public spirit. The whole 
aggregate extent of the several canals already under- 
taken, and to a large extent completed, falls little 
short of 375 miles. 



SECTION XXII. MISSOURI. 

Missouri, the only state which is wholly on the 
west of the Mississippi, is different in wSome of its fea- 
tures and circumstances, from all the other states. 

The Ozark mountains, entering it from the south- 
west, render large tracts in that quarter rugged and 
inhospitable. A great proportion of the state is com- 
posed of high prairie plains, which, though inter- 



308 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 

sected by large rivers, are much in want of small re- 
freshing streams. Timber is insufficient in quantity, 
for the purposes of an extensive population, and the 
prevalent species are of very inferior quality. The 
soil, however, in the vicinity of the rivers, and in 
the northern prairies, where cultivation can be the 
most advantageously pursued, is rich and very pro- 
ductive, and the prairies afford plentiful pastures and 
ample range for great numbers of cattle. 

The climate, though sometimes serene, temperate, 
and pleasant, is on the whole fickle and variable, and 
the changes of temperature sudden and great. The 
large proportion of surface exposed to the sun, occa- 
sions the atmosphere to be dry and healthy, except 
when interrupted by those sudden changes. 

In the south, bordering on the Mississippi, is a 
very extensive tract of marshy ground, abounding in 
lakes: and inundations from the river, in times of 
high water, are very extensive and prevalent. 

Agriculture is the general business of the inhabit- 
ants, in cultivated districts, and is capable of produ- 
cing large profits in many articles. ' But the princi- 
pal source of export profit is, from working the lead 
mines; except when, from the metal being so plen- 
tiful, and easily obtained, the market becomes glut- 
ted, and sales at the most reduced prices cannot be 
effected. 

At Herculaneum, on the border of the Mississippi, 
are extensive shot factories: the perpendicular preci- 
pice of the river bank, occurring at that place, serv- 
ing in the place of towers. High elevations are ne- 
cessary, that the melted metal, let fall from them in 
drops, may have sufficient time in its descent, to 
acquire forms perfectly globular. The grains of shot 
would otherwise be oblong and ill shaped. 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 30& 



SECTION XXIII. MICHIGAN TERRITORY. 

The southern part of the Michigan territory has 
generally a very fine fertile soil — pleasantly level 
and easy of cultivation. It may be considered in 
character as identified with the adjoining states of 
Ohio and Indiana; producing plentifully of the differ- 
ent species of vegetable culture comm-on in them. 

The climate is said to be more mild and equable, 
than in other parts of equal latitude; and the circum- 
stances of the country on the whole, appear so desira- 
ble, that population is rapidly increasing, by emigra- 
tions; not only from the rougher parts of New Eng- 
land, but from other fruitful districts near to it. 

The northern parts are not so much settled, and 
must be supposed to be of a colder temperature in 
winter. 

The North-western and Missouri territories having 
comparatively but few white settlements, seem to re- 
quire but little notice as relates to the objects of the 
present chapter. 



SECTION XXIV. ARKANSAS TERRITORY. 

This territory is but little advanced in cultivation, 
though the population is sufficient to maintain a terri- 
torial government. On the Mississippi, the ground 
is marshy, but further inland the soil is rich and pro- 
ductive. Much of the west is occupied by the rough, 
sterile, Ozark mountains. In summer, the streams 
fail, and a surface in some of the plains impregnated 
with salt, communicates an unpleasant brackishness 
to the waters. Trade and manufactures are not in a 
state to require present notice. 



310 COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 



SECTION XXV. FLORIDA. 

Florida, being chiefly surrounded with ocean, 
presents very little elevated ground, except that in 
the peninsular parts is a ridge of lime stone of some 
elevation, and of great extent from north. to south. 
Much of the country is either composed of swamps 
and marshes, or of a poor, open, sandy soil, partially 
clothed with pines. Along the alluvial river bottoms, 
in some parts, the soil is very rich and fertile. Hence 
some of the best cultivated estates are narrow, and 
far extended in length. Population is scattered and 
thin. 

In the pine forests, however, are many tracts of 
rising or elevated ground of greater or less extent, 
which compose some of the best lands in the territo- 
ry. And in some other elevated parts, large heavy 
timber abounds in great variety. The majestic ap- 
pearance of the forests, and the beautiful display of 
rich colors upon the flowering shrubbery, are, in va- 
rious portions of the country, objects of very pleasing 
attraction. So also are the majestic magnolia trees, 
which rise to the height of one hundred feet in a strait 
branchless trunk, and present at the head a rich, deep 
green foliage, forming a cone, and intermingled with 
very broad white flowers. 

The profitable agricultural products to which the 
better portions of the country are adapted, are sugar, 
coffee, cotton, rice, indigo, and tobacco. 

The western section, which, while in possession of 
the Spanish government, formed a separate province, 
is in some parts highly fruitful and inviting. 

The climate is mild, and frosts are scarcely ever 
known. The region is therefore a region of tropical 
fruits and vegetables, which are cultivated in per- 
fection. 

The territory is remarkable for the growth of a pe- 
culiar kind of evergreen oak, called live oak, of most 



COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE STATES. 311 

singular solidity and durability. In the construction 
of ships it is said to so far outlast every other species 
of oak, as to render it of great and manifold value. 
It is held as the property of the government, and pro- 
tected against depredation at the national expense. 

The torpid rivers abound with fish and with alliga- 
tors, and their reedy banks, and at some seasons their 
surfaces, swarm with various species of wild fowl. 



7'^^ 



CHAPTER III. 

CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS IN 
THE SEVERAL STATES. 

SECTION I. MAINE. 

Portland, with a population of 12,600, is seated 
on a peninsula in an inlet of the sea, called Casco bay, 
in the south-west section. Its situation is beautiful 
and healthy, and its harbor one of the best in the 
Union. It is much the most populous town in the 
state, and its chief station of commerce. It is hand- 
somely planned and its style of building convenient 
and elegant. Its commercial operations are lively 
and extensive; and conducted with eminent ability 
and enterprise. 

Wiscasset is at the head of an inlet called Sheepscot 
river, near the mouth of the Kennebeck. 

Castine is a pleasant town upon a promontory on 
the east side of Penobscot bay, near the middle of 
the sea coast. Population, 1155. It is furnished with 



312 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

an excellent and capacious harbor, and enjoys con- 
siderable trade. 

Eastport is the frontier port, adjoining the British 
dominions. It is seated at the south-east corner of 
the state, upon the bay of Funda. Population 2450. 

Bangor, on Penobscot river, fifty-two miles from 
the ocean, has the advantage of a navigation for ves- 
sels of three or four hundred tons. 2886 inhabitants. 

Augusta, the capital, has a sloop navigation on the 
tides of the Kennebeck, thirty-five miles from the sea. 
Its population nearly 4000. 

Kennebunk is on the coast of the south-west of the 
state, with a population of 2763. 

Bath is or Sheepscot bay, or Kennebeck river 
near its mouth, opposite Wiscassett. Inhabitants 
3770. 

Belfast, at the head of Penobscot bay, opposite 
Castine, numbers a population of above 3000. 

Hallowell, a wealthy and flourishing town at the 
head of tide water, on Kennebeck river. 

The general export trade, from the towns of this 
state, is in the produce of its vastly extensive forests, 
in the form of masts, spars, staves, and lumber, in 
great variety, and in the produce of the fisheries, in 
which the inhabitants are extensively engaged. The 
soil is remarkably adapted to the growth of the pota- 
to, which is cultivated to a great extent, and is often 
an item of export, to supply deficiencies in other 
states upon the sea coast. 



SECTION II. NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Concord, the capital, is an inland town, of 3727 
inhabitants, on the Merrimack river, near the middle 
longitude of the state. It has a considerable trade in 
inland produce, which it carries on with Boston, by 
means of the Merrimack canal. 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 313 

Portsmouth, is on a small bay projecting from the 
ocean, on the south-west confines of Maine. It is 
the largest town and only sea port in the state, its 
population being 8082. Its shipping, and mercantile 
intercourse with other parts are extensive. 

Dover, a town of 5450 inhabitants, is the oldest 
town in the state, dating in 1623. It is twelve miles 
north of Portsmouth, on the line of Maine. It stands 
upon the river Piscataqua, and the Cochecho passes 
through it, having a perpendicular fall of forty feet, 
affording abundant water, with a power seldom equal- 
led, which is occupied to great advantage by exten- 
sive manufactories of iron and cotton. 

The export trade of this state will admit of the 
same general description as that of Maine, with the 
addition of a greater proportion of manufactured cot- 
ton and woollen goods. 



SECTION III. VERMONT. 

MoNTPELiER, the capital, is situated east of the 
Green mountain, near the middle of the state. Its 
population is nearly ISOO. 

Windsor, is on the Connecticut river, near the mid- 
dle latitude. Its inhabitants number above 3100. 

Burlington, on lake Champlain, has a population 
of above 3500. 

Rutland, west of the mountain, in the middle part, 
maintain 2750 inhabitants. 

Middlebury, near the middle latitude, bordering 
on New York, numbers nearly 3500 people. 

Bennington, with a population of 3400, is in the 
south-west corner of the state, near the New York 
line. 

Vermont, having no sea ports, none of its towns 

are large. Burlington, though on the lake opening 

a passage to the St. Lawrence, cannot partake of that 

natural channel, Agriculture and manufactures, 

21 



314 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

being the chief pursuits of the inhabitants, its towns 
partake of those characters, according as circum- 
stances govern. Burlington and Middlebury are 
seats of public colleges. 



SECTION IV. MASSACHUSET^rS. 

Boston, the capital city, has a population of 61,392. 
Its situation has been described in our second book. 

Being one of the oldest towns in the Union, the 
older parts of its ground plan partake of the taste of 
those days of simplicity and suffering, when the pre- 
sent advanced state of the arts and general improve- 
ment, were perhaps not even conceived of in the 
visions of the imagination. The streets are, therefore, 
somewhat confined, narrow, and irregular. 

Much of the present city, however, is upon a more 
modern ground plan; which occupies handsome emi- 
nences, of easy ascent; where the streets are spacious, 
and the buildings exhibit much modern elegance and 
taste, with a very pleasing variety. 

The city is adorned with many public buildings, 
devoted to various uses, and contributing much to 
establish a character of public spirit in the citizens. 

Its principal inhabitants combine in character the 
traits of industry, commercial and manufacturing en- 
terprise, correct moral principles, and hospitality to 
strangers. 

Salem, the next in population, numbers nearly 
14,000 inhabitants. Its seat is upon the sea coast, 
fifteen miles north-east from Boston. It maintains 
a very lively coasting and foreign trade, and pos- 
sesses a large interest in sea vessels, which extend its 
traffic to distant oceans and ports upon the European 
and Asiatic continents. 

Newburyport, is a thriving trading town, at the 
mouth of the Merrimack river, near the north-east 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 315 

point of the state. Its population numbers nearly 
6400. 

New Bedford, is upon an inlet from Buzzard's bay, 
upon the southern sea coast. Its population amounts 
to about 7600. The interest of the inhabitants is very 
extensive in the distant and neighbouring fisheries; 
and the leading articles of their trade, are the produce 
of the whale, the seal, and the fisheries of Newfound- 
land, and the New England coast. The town has 
been for some years rapidly increasing, its population 
appearing to have advanced fifty per cent in the last 
ten years. 

Charlestown, on the north-east of Boston, is sepa- 
rated from it by only an arm of the bay. It partici- 
pates in the general pursuits of its neighbours. Its 
population rises above 8700. 

Cambridge, four miles to the north-west of Boston, 
and numbering above 6000 inhabitants, is famed as 
the seat of Harvard University, — the oldest public 
collegiate establishment in the Union, founded in 
1638. 

Marblehead, numbering a population of 5150, is 
seated very near to Salem, participating in the lively 
trade of the country. 

Lynn, with a population of above 6100, is a town 
principally devoted to the manufacture of shoes; 
which find their way into almost every part of the 
Union. 

Lowel, is a manufacturing town of great activity, 
which has but latterly risen into eminence. Its in- 
habitants vvere numbered in ISSO at 6474, but are 
now rated at 10,000. 

Sherburne, is a sea port on the island of Nantucket, 
situated in the ocean, ninety miles south-westward 
from Boston. The island forms a separate county of 
the state. The population amounts to 7200, who are 
almost wholly engaged in the concerns of the distant 
whale and seal fisheries, and the trade connected with 
then!. 



316 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

Many other towns of Massachusetts are compara- 
tively large, neat, and very respectable; the inha- 
bitants being extensively engaged in the concerns 
of agriculture and manufacturing. The custom of 
the country, from its first settlement, has congregated 
the inhabitants generally in towns, while their farms 
are seated in the country round about them. Hence 
the term ^Uown" comprehends in New England the 
same import with the term '' township" or *' hun- 
dred,'^ in many other states. 

Many of the towns will be named as the seats of 
judicature, in our tabular views of the counties of the 
state. 



SECTION V. RHODE ISLAND. 

Newport, is situated in Rhode Island proper, on 
Newport bay, reputed to be one of the best harbors 
in the Union, directly bordering on the ocean. It 
has been much superseded in trade by other sea ports. 
The site of the town is very handsome, the climate 
agreeable, and the air healthy. Its population amounts 
to 8000. It claims an early date among our colonial 
settlements. 

Providence, is much the largest town in the state, 
having a population of 16,800 in 1830, which is sup- 
posed to have increased 3000 in two years since. It 
is seated on a good navigation, upon Providence river, 
five miles above the head of Naragansett bay. It 
maintains a very brisk trade, and constantly transmits 
to other parts extensive shipments of the produce of 
the thriving manufacturies in its vicinity. 

The state being the smallest in the Union, its other 
principal towns are but few. Scituate has 6850, War- 
wick 5500, Smithfield 4000, South Kingston 3660, 
Bristol 3054, and North Kingston 3036 inhabitants. 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 317 



SECTION VI. CONNECTICUT. 

Hartford, is seated on the tide water of Connec- 
ticut river, fifty miles from its discharge in Long 
Island sound. Its population amounts to nearly 9800. 
It is surrounded by a beautiful, fertile country, and 
its commerce is flourishing. It accommodates, alter- 
nately with New Haven, the sittings of the legisla- 
ture- 
New Haven, the largest town in the state, has a 
population of 10,678. It is seated on a projection of 
Long Island sound, in the south-western quarter of 
the state. 

New London, upon Thames river, three miles 
from its mouth, in the south-east of the state, numbers 
4350 inhabitants. 

Middletown, is on the west side of Connecticut 
river, nineteen miles below Hartford, with a popula- 
tion of about 6900. 

The trade of these towns is principally confined to 
an intercourse with other states of the Union; New 
York, from its commanding situation, and many su- 
perior advantages, superseding the necessity, and 
limiting the prospect of benefit from distant enter- 
prises in any other place on the same portion of 
coast. The exports of Connecticut, are chiefly the 
products of its thriving manufactories of cotton and 
woollen goods, and iron wares, and its extensive dai- 
ries, together with a great variety of manufactures, 
and agricultural productions of minor consideration. 
Raw silk, however, has become a very important and 
profitable item among its export articles. 
27* 



318 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

SECTION VII. NEW YORK. 

As the state of New York numbers the greatest 
population of any state, so the city has attained the 
rank of the most populous city in the Union. Its in- 
habitants amounting to 203,000. 

Its situation, and its circumstances as a commercial 
einporium, have been described in our second book. 

The city corporation includes the whole island of 
Manhattan. The length of the island is variously 
stated by different authors, at from eight to fifteen 
miles. It is from two to three miles wide, between 
the Hudson and East rivers. It is separated from the 
northern main land by a narrow channel called Haer- 
lem river, crossed by bridges. The dense population 
extends from the south point, between two and three 
miles north, occupying the whole breadth of the 
island. 

The oldest part of the city, having been built by 
the early Dutch settlers, their houses appear to have 
been placed according to individual fancy, without any 
regular design; and the streets have been permitted 
to remain in the same irregular order. Hence, they 
pass in angles to each other, of almost every measure 
and direction; some of them being very narrow and 
(•oiifined, others short, and irregular in breadth, and 
others very crooked and circuitous. In this part, 
strangers are easily confused and brought into diffi- 
culty, to find their way to the desired point. 

The modern inhabitants, however, finding them- 
selves obliged to make the best of their predecessors 
want of taste and foresight, have adorned many of 
those narrow and irregular streets, with lofty and 
spacious stores and warehouses, and with elegant 
mansions, and structures occupied by banks, and 
public offices. 

The modern parts of the city, which comprehend 
its much larger proportion, are laid out with regu- 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 319 

larity, and great convenience. Broadway is a spaci- 
ous and elegantly improved street, passing northward, 
along the ridge of a handsome elevation, in a direct 
continuous line, near the middle of the ground plan 
of the city: the cross streets, taking their departure 
from it on each hand, where older arrangements will 
permit. The lower western part owes its present re- 
gularity to an extensive fire, which destroyed that 
part of the ancient city, in the time of the commo- 
tions of the revolution. 

From the borders of the city, and from some of its 
public walks, beautiful and picturesque views are 
presented, of the Hudson and East rivers, the spaci- 
ous bay, the adjacent islands, and the shore and 
neighbouring heights of New Jersey. 

The city contains many edifices for public uses, in- 
cluding numerous houses for public worship. Some 
of these display the improvem.ents of modern ele- 
gance and taste; and others exhibit striking speci- 
mens of the grandeur of former days. 

The grant of the first charter of the city, was ob- 
tained about the year 1666, under the administration 
of the first British governor. 

Albany, the seat of legislative government, num- 
bering 24,238 inhabitants, stands on the western bank 
of Hudson river, one hundred and sixty miles from 
New York, commanding a good sloop navigation, on 
the tides of that river. It is an important and rapidly 
increasing city. The discharge of the western canal 
within its precincts, with the advantages of the 
northern canal combined, contribute largely to its 
trade and prosperity. It is located on a handsome 
rising ground, and its plan and modern improve- 
ments, are neat, convenient, and liberal. Its more 
ancient buildings partake of the early style of Dutch 
taste. It has been a place of much note and import- 
ance, from the first European settlement of the coun- 
try, as the key to the whole western region, and the 
centre of early Indian trade. It is understood to be 



320 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

the oldest town in the Union, except James town in 
Virginia. 

The city of Hudson, on the east bank of Hudson 
river, one hundred and twenty miles from New York, 
was founded in the latter half of the last century. 
Though above the Catskill mountains, the channel of 
the river is sufficiently deep to pass sea vessels of 
heavy burden. Some of the citizens are therefore 
conductors of extensive foreign trade, and of enter- 
prises in the distant fisheries. Its communication 
with the western parts of Massachusetts, and the 
neighbouring inland regions, furnishes much retail 
business. The city is handsomely seated on the ele- 
vated bank of the river, and neatly improved. Its 
population numbers about 5400. 

Troy, is a handsome and prosperous city, on the 
east side of the Hudson, six miles above Albany. It 
contains a wealthy population, and beside the common 
pursuits of trade and manufactures, conducts a consi- 
derable business in printing and book binding. It is 
famed for the perfection and elegance of its workman- 
ship in coach making. Being near the head of sloop 
navigation, it serves as a key to the trade of Ver- 
mont, and the western parts of Massachusetts. It 
numbers 11,400 inhabitants. 

Other cities of the state are Schenectady and Utica 
on the Mohawk, and Rochester on the Genessee 
river. The present population of the first amounts to 
4250, of the second 8300, and of last 8650. But the 
increase of population, in these and many other im- 
portant towns, which will be named in our tables, is 
so rapid, that the descriptions of a geographer would 
remain but a short time correct. The growth and 
prosperity of many of them have few examples on 
record. 

Plattsburgh, is an important post on lake Cham- 
plain, in the north-east section of the state, number- 
ing a population of 4900. 

Sackett's Harbour, is on the navigation of lake Ob- 
tario, at its eastern end. 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 321 

Buffalo, is a city and port of much celebrity, on the 
east end ^f lake Erie. Its population numbering 
8650. 

Brooklyn, on Long Island, is separated from New- 
York by the channel of the East river. It is a hand- 
some town, furnishing seats of retirement for wealthy 
citizens, conducting business in the city. Besides its 
other brisk business of various kinds, it is noted as 
the seat of a public navy yard, and for its very exten- 
siv^e scale of ship building. Its population numbers 
above 15,000. 



■•?K■^ 



SECTION VIII. NEW JERSEY. 

None of the cities of this state are large, its princi- 
pal commerce being divided between Philadelphia 
and New York. 

Trenton, the seat of government, is seated on the 
Delaware, at the head of tide water. Burlington, 
on the Delaware, twenty miles above Philadelphia, 
Camden, on the shore, opposite Philadelphia. New 
Brunswick, at the head of the tides of the Raritan. 
Perth Amboy, on Staten Island sound, at the mouth 
of the Raritan. Newark, on Passaick river, near 
New York. Patterson, about twelve miles north- 
ward, at the falls of Passaick. Jersey City, on the 
Hudson, opposite New York. 

The population of Trenton numbers about 4000. 
Burlington and Camden contain each a smaller num- 
ber. New Brunswick 7800. Newark, nearly 11,000- 
Patterson, 7700. Jersey City is of modern date, and 
not of rapid improvement. 

Some of those cities date their origin from the early 
colonial settlements. They are generally placed upon 
eligible and commanding sites, and some of them ex- 
hibit great neatness in their improvements, and libe- 
rality in their plans. Newark is considered by some 



322 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

travellers as the handsomest town in the United 
States, and is a lively and prosperous snaLof trade, 
and of manufactures of various kinds. 

Princeton, is seated upon an elevated plain, com- 
manding an extensive view of the country, north and 
south, upon the thoroughfare road from Trenton to 
New York, ten miles from the former. It is a hand- 
some inland town, long famed as the seat of Nassau 
college. Other towns, noted as the seats of judica- 
ture, in the several counties, are generally improv- 
ing, prosperous, and handsome, and combine the 
requisites of agreeable residence. 



■•s(^- 



SECTION IX. PENNSYLVANIA. 

Philadelphia, already noticed as a commercial 
emporium, was founded by William Penn, on a plan 
of his own projection, in the same year as his provin- 
cial settlement. 

The original plan of the city extended one mile 
north and south, from Vine to Cedar streets, and 
about two miles east and west, between the rivers. 

Its streets are laid out at right angles, correspond- 
ing with the cardinal points of the compass, as they 
then appeared, without regard to the variation of the 
magnetic needle. Hence, there is a continuous pros- 
pect along them, and the advantage is secured, of a 
free circulation of air, and the means of a uniform 
cleanliness, in every part. 

The contiguous districts, of Southwark on the 
south, and the Northern Liberties and Penn Town- 
ship on the north, being laid out and improved, by 
continuing the streets, on an extension of the same 
plan, are not now distinguishable from the city pro- 
per. The dense improvements are therefore extended 
to nearly four miles, north and south, and the popu- 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 323 

lation of the whole, as one extended city, is found to 
amount to nearly 168,000. 

In Philadelphia are many public institutions; and 
it contains many public buildings, devoted to the va- 
I'ious objects of promoting the advancement of the 
arts and sciences, to professional pursuits, purposes of 
benevolence and charity, and public worship; and for 
the accommodation of the mercantile community and 
the monied institutions, of the city, the state, and the 
nation. To enumerate them all, does not come within 
the scope of the plan of this work. 

The additions, now about to be made, in pursuance 
of the plans devised in the last will of the late Ste- 
phen Girard, will add much to the list of the objects 
of public interest. He having bequeathed to the city, 
property amounting to millions, devoted to the exe- 
cution of a plan, devised by himself, for the literary 
and liberal education, upon a very extensive scale, of 
the poor orphan male children, of this and other por- 
tions of the community. He had moreover in his life- 
time, contributed much to the beauty of the city, by 
his liberal, neat, substantial, and uniform plans, of 
many different ranges of buildings, directed and exe- 
cuted by himself. 

The modern plans, of improvements in general, in 
the city, exhibit great neatness, simple elegance, and 
sectional uniformity. 

The ancient state house was, in the days of its foun- 
dation, no doubt considered as a splendid and ele- 
gant, as it is yet a very respectable structure. The 
apartment within it, in which the Declaration of Iii- 
dependence, at the time of the revolution, was pro- 
mulged, is preserved as an object of lively and vene- 
rable interest. A species of veneration, however, 
toward an inanimate object, which, though natural to 
the human mind, as combining with the associations 
of the memory, might perhaps, in the eye of the en- 
lightened philosopher, be of small or no moral value. 
If asked for a reason for his indifference, he would 
probably answer, that the apartment in which that 



324 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

declaration was matured, was no more to the noble 
instrument itself, than the dead carcass is to the living 
spirit, which once pervaded it; or the empty and de- 
serted hive, to the bounteous treasures of the rich 
\.^oney comb. 

' A very interesting circumstance attaching to the 
city, must be considered, the means of furnishing it 
with an abundant supply of excellent water, at a very 
trifling current expense. The tides of the river 
Schuylkill, extend but a short distance above the 
bounds of the city. At the head of which, by the 
erection of a permanent dam across the river, em- 
bracing the first falls, a power is acquired, by which, 
applied to the purpose of working a set of forcing 
pumps, the water is raised obliquely up the hill, and 
delivered into large excavations, dug out by im- 
mense labour, upon the top of an eminence called 
Fairmount. These serve as continual reservoirs, al- 
ways full, and sustaining a perpetual head of water, 
sufficient to raise the water, conducted from them 
into the city, by iron pipes, to the elevation of the 
tops of the houses. 

Thus may every house have a fountain in each 
story, for the use of baths, and every other desirable 
purpose, as they are generally furnished with foun- 
tains in their ground apartments, for all domestic uses. 

The public and private benefits of such an estab- 
lishment are not easily calculated. Beside the un- 
limited supplies of water in every street, in cases of 
fire, the quantity may be made amply sufficient to 
maintain constant streams running in the streets, for 
the purposes of general cleanliness, and the preserva- 
tion of a sweet and healthy atmosphere. 

Lancaster, is seated upon a beautiful fertile plain, 
in the middle part of Lancaster county, sixty miles 
westward from Philadelphia, and ten miles from Co- 
lumbia, on the Susquehanna. It was founded before 
the middle of the last century. It contains an indus- 
trious population, numbering nearly 7700, many of 
whom are of German descent. Many of the citizens 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 325 

are engaged in manufactures of various kinds, but 
particularly in several denominations of iron work, 
in some species of which, its workmen have been 
long known to excel. The large Conestoga creek 
has latterly been made navigable, from its vicinity 
to the Susquehanna, by a canal and other improve- 
ments. 

Harrisburgh, the seat of the state legislation, con- 
tains a population of 4300. Its location is on a rising 
ground, on the east bank of the Susquehanna, ninety- 
five miles from Philadelphia, north-westward. 

The situation of Pittsburgh has been already de- 
scribed. It is sometimes significantly styled the Bir- 
mingham of America, from its extensive manufac- 
tures in iron, a large quantity of which, both cast and 
wrought, is furnished to the southern and western 
states. Its manufactures of glass ware, cut and plain, 
have attained a perfection equal to the workmanship 
of Europe. Its manufactures of cotton and woollen 
goods, are also of important extent. The construction 
of steam vessels, for the use of the Ohio, Mississippi, 
and other western waters, is conducted upon a great 
and constantly extending scale. Its location is pecu- 
liarly adapted to the growth and prosperity of a 
great trading and manufacturing city. Its population 
amounted in 1830, to 17,365, denoting an increase 
in the last ten years, exceeding 140 per cent. 

The two first and the last are the only corporate 
cities in the state. Its other towns are very nume- 
rous, and of various importance. A few of them only 
will be here introduced. 

Columbia, on the Susquehanna, seventy miles 
westward from Philadelphia, is a town of rather recent 
origin, but of very rapid growth, from its participa- 
tion of the trade of that river. The navigation of the 
river being much more difficult below, than for a 
great distance above the town, in times of low water, 
renders it a place of depot for the trade ^f the upper 
country, during most of the year. A rail-road, now 
under construction by the state, is intended to estab- 
2S 



326 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

lish a direct and cheap mode of transport to Philadel- 
phia. The town numbers 2050 inhabitants. 

York is a thriving inland town, upon Codorus 
creek, twelve miles westward from Columbia, con- 
taining a population of 5000. 

The town of Erie is a port upon lake Erie, in the 
north-west of the state, from which an extensive 
navigation is maintained. Population 1450. 

Easton, in Northampton county, is seated upon a 
beautiful level, surrounded by lofty eminences, with- 
in the junction of the Delaware and its Lehigh branch. 
Its trade with the surrounding country, and parts of 
the state northward, is large. The many water falls 
in its vicinity, furnish powers for an extensive manu- 
factory of flour, which is transported to Philadelphia 
by the Delaware. Its population is numbered at 3529. 

Kensington, on the Delaware, separated from the 
Northern Liberties of Philadelphia by a small inlet 
of the tide, is a corporate town of 13,326 inhabitants. 
In it is conducted, beside several iron founderies, and 
other manufacturing, an extensive scale of ship and 
steamboat building, for the use of the city, and for 
foreign customers. 

Frankfoid, a borough town, five miles northward 
from Philadelphia, containing within its corporate 
limits a population of 1637, is extensively a .nanu- 
facturing district. The borough, and its vicinity a 
few miles round, is said to employ a manufacturing 
capital approaching to 2,000,000 dollars. 

Reading, on the line of the Schuylkill navigation, 
fifty miles from Philadelphia, has long been a place 
of trade, and now, since the completion of the navi- 
gation, rapidly increasing; its population amounting 
to nearly 6000. 

Manyunk, on the Schuylkill canal, is a manufac- 
turing town of great activity, distant from Philadel- 
phia seven miles. Its works are propelled by the 
water power of the canal. The town contains four 
hundred houses, and fourteen mills, all which have 
risen in about ten years. 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 32' 



SECTION X. DELAWARE,. 

The seat of the city of Wilmington is in Newcas- 
tle county, a few miles from the northern extremity 
of the state. It is bounded on the south by Chris- 
tiana creek, and on the north by Brandywine — two 
navigable tide waters, on which a sloop navigation is 
conducted into the Delaware. The situation of the 
city is remarkably beautiful. The north extremity 
exhibits the pleasingly romantic roughness of a pow- 
erful rocky stream, conjoining with the smooth sur- 
face of a deep tide, and a range of lofty flour mills on 
the bank of the tide, which are propelled by the 
power gained from the stream, at its lowest falls. On 
the soulh side, is a space sufficiently level, to accom- 
modate in an agreeable manner, the trading part of 
its community. From each side is an easy ascent to 
the middle ground; which is composed of an emi- 
nence of one hundred and nine feet and a half above 
the level of the flood tides, and commands extensive 
and picturesque prospects of the river Delaware, and 
the surrounding country. 

The elevations of the city offer, at many points, 
situations for a display of elegance and taste not yet 
occupied. 

The city is plentifully watered, from a spacious 
artificial reservoir, constructed upon its high ground, 
and supplied by forcing pumps, moved by the water 
of the Brandywine. 

In Wilmington is concentrated a large amount of 
manufacturing capital and interest. The far famed 
Brandywine mills have been long established in an 
extensive manufacture of flour, where the art has at- 
tained to a great degree of perfection. 

The population of the city is stated to be 6638. 

New Castle, on the Delaware river, the seat of ju- 
dicature of the county, is the oldest town in the state^ 



328 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

having been first improved by the Swedes, under the 
name of Casimer. When it fell into the possession 
of the Dutch its name was changed to Neiwer Amstel, 
and when it was assigned to the Duke of York, it re- 
ceived the name of New Castle. Excepting a limited 
retail trade with the neighboring country, its chief 
commercial importance at present seems to be as a 
place of departure for vessels going to sea, where 
they often take in supplies of live stock and fresh 
provisions. 

Dover is the seat of the legislative assembly, and 
of the judicature in Kent county. Its population 3416, 

Millford, on Muspillion creek, is a place of lively 
and active business. 

Delaware city, which we now often see noticed in 
the public prints, is at the harbor formed on the side 
of Delaware bay, at the entrance of the thoroughfare 
navigation formed through George's creek, and the 
cross cut canal, into Chesapeak. A town has been 
there planned, under this name, which is yet but 
very little improved by building. 



SECTION XI. MARYLAND. 

The city of Annapolis, the seat of the state govern- 
ment, situated on the west side of the Chesapeak bay, 
about two miles from the mouth of a small river 
named Severn, on which it stands, is the oldest city 
in the state. This town was made the seat of govern- 
ment in the year 1694. Previous to this time, the 
legislative assembly and colonial authorities, had re- 
mained at St. Mary's. 

Annapolis, though placed on a fine healthy and 
convenient site, is little known as a place of trade. 
Its location being unfavorable to the concentration of 
an extensive commerce, though its plan and improve- 
ments are liberal and elegant. 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 329 

Baltimore is the focus at which the trade of the 
state centres from every direction, as intimated in our 
second book. 

The plan of the city, though the work of different 
periods, as the wants of the population indicated an 
enlargement, is as a whole, liberal and convenient: 
presenting on its various pleasant elevations, many 
appropriate sites for elegant improvement, and fur- 
nishing an interesting variety of situations for resi- 
dence. 

By the passage of a very valuable mill-stream call- 
ed Jones's falls, the city is divided into two parts, 
connected by bridges over the stream. 

The vicinity, abounding in beautiful eminences, 
occupied and handsomely improved as country seats, 
and commanding various extensive views of the city, 
the surrounding country, and the wide spread distant 
waters, gives to the scene presented, an interestingly 
picturesque character. 

Baltimore at present, ranks as the third city in the 
Union in point of population, the late census present- 
ing an aggregate of 80,625. The city has the advan- 
tage of several natural fountains, which are conducted 
in pipes, and discharged in appropriate situations, for 
the benefit of the market, and to supply a considera- 
ble proportion of the inhabitants with excellent water 
for culinary uses. 

At the head of the tide on Susquehanna, in Cecil 
county, is a growing town of modern origin, called 
Port Deposit; which receives the produce descending 
the river in rafts, and a kind of simply constructed 
vessels called arks. The produce is there transship- 
ped, either to find its way to a market at Baltimore, 
or to pass by the canal, and Delaware river, to Phila- 
delphia. 

The town of Frederick, in Frederick county, is 
populous and thriving. It is seated in a very fertile 
inland region, in high cultivation, much of the popu- 
lation of which is of German descent. Its inhabitants 
are rated at above 4400, 
28* 



330 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

EUicott's Mills, on the falls of Patapsco river, nine 
miles from Baltimore, is a place of great business. 
The stream is very powerful, and the fall occurring in 
a short distance, is converted into several diflferent 
seats, for the use of iron works, flour mills, paper 
mills, and various other species of manufacture; all of 
which are conducted with great spirit and efiect. 



SECTION XII. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

The ground plan of the city of Washington is laid 
out with strict mathematical accuracy, upon a very 
extensive and liberal scale, as designed for the per- 
manent metropolis of a great nation. Its extent mea- 
sures four miles upon the north-east bank of the Po- 
tomac. 

It contains several commanding eminences. On 
the principal eminence is placed the Capitol of the 
Union: comprising the Halls of Congress, and the 
various other extensive apartments of state. This 
building, from its elevated situation, its lofty struc- 
ture, and the magnitude and elegance of its plan and 
proportions, is an object very interestingly conspicu- 
ous from distant parts of the city and the surrounding 
country. The Presidential jNlansion, seated upon a 
commanding ground of less elevation, and distant 
from the Capitol between one and two miles, forms 
another object of eminent distinction, as viewed from 
different distant points of observation. 

Beside the intersection of many spacious streets at 
right angles, the ground plan of the city is dividetl 
into sections by another order of streets, termed ave- 
nues. These are still more spacious than the rect- 
angular streets, and intersect them at various angles. 
They bear the names of different states in the Union, 
and take their courses in various directions from the 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 331 

most distinguished points; such, for instance, as the 
Capitol and the President's House. By means of 
those avenues, should the general plan of the city, in 
a future age, become covered with buildings, the view 
will remain unimpaired in many directions, from one 
prominent point to another, at great distances. 

The situation of the city, as respects the circum- 
stances of land and water, is uncommonly beautiful. 
The ground ascending by an easy slope from the river, 
till it attains an elevation eminently commanding; by 
which means the view of the silvery surface of the 
broad Potomac, with the surrounding scenery, is pre- 
sented from many points, to great advantage. The 
extended plan forbids as yet the extension of improve- 
ments over any very considerable proportion of the 
whole ground; but the occupied portions exhibit ex- 
tensive groups, more or less distant from each other, 
of substantial and elegant buildings; for the accom*- 
modation of the citizens, the members of Congress, 
during their sessions, and the various public agents: 
with great numbers of visitors, who resort to the city 
on account of business, amusement, or curiosity. 

The population of Washington, as exhibited in the 
census of 1830, amounted to 18,827. 

Georgetown is situated adjoining Washington, at 
the head of ship navigation, near the lower fails of 
the Potomac. Its ground plan rises gradually from 
the river in a manner similar to Washington, and is 
more or less undulating. Its streets are commodious, 
its improvements good, and its style of building ge- 
nerally substantial. Its population numbers 8440. 

Alexandria skirts the southern boundary of the 
District, on the side of Virginia, six miles from 
Washington. This city is seated upon the river bor- 
der of a widely extended level plain, of uncommon 
beauty. Its streets are broad, strait, at right angles, 
and well paved, and its improvements handsome, con- 
venient, and substantial. The bank of the river is 
bold, descending quickly to deep water, and sufficient- 
ly elevated for health, convenience of wharfage, and 



332 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

perpetual cleanliness. As regards depth of water? 
spaciousness of harbor, and general local circum.- 
stances, it combines all the requisites of a great conn- 
mercial city. Its population amounts to 8263. 



SECTION XIII. VIRGINIA. 

WiLLiAMSBURGH is the oldcst chartered city in 
this state. Its situation is between James and York 
rivers, in James City county. Being an inland place, 
it is not understood to have advanced latterly, in 
population or improvement. It is noted however, as 
being the seat of the first public collegiate establish- 
ment in the state; still maintained, under the name of 
William and Mary College. Its name denotes its 
establishment to have been under the reign and pa- 
tronage of those joint monarchs, nearly one hundred 
and forty years ago. 

Richmond, the seat of legislation, stands upon the 
north side of James river, eighty miles on a line, from 
its mouth. Though incapable of receiving ships of 
great burden, it is the largest city and commercial 
port in the state, numbering 16,000 inhabitants. Its 
export trade in the products of agriculture, consists 
in wheat, flour, tobacco, and cotton. The region of 
the bituminous coal mines of Virginia, is in its vici- 
nity, and from hence this article has long been ship- 
ped in large quantities. 

Norfolk, one of the early trading establishments, 
is located on the east side of Elizabeth river, which 
opens eight miles below the town into Hampton roads. 
It is much used as a place of refuge for vessels enter- 
ing the bay of Chesapeak, for shelter in storms; or in 
distress from disasters at sea. Gosport, one of the 
public navy yards, is opposite to it. Being near the 
sea coast, the circumstances of the soil, climate, and 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 333 

state of agriculture, are not favorable to its rapid in- 
crease, yet, owing to its ample depth of water, it is 
said to enjoy a greater share of foreign commerce, 
than any other town in the state. Its present popu- 
lation is numbered at above 9800. 

Petersburgh, is a town maintaining a considerable 
commercial intercourse with the seaports of the neigh- 
boring states. It is seated on the south side of Appo- 
matox river, near the head of its tides. It numbers 
a population of 8300. About seventeen years ago, 
a large part of the town was destroyed by fire, which 
has been substantially rebuilt. Its appearance, busi- 
ness, wealth, and enterprise, place it in the highest 
rank of towns in the state. 

Fredericksburgh, is at the head of sloop navigation, 
on the Rappahannock, of 3000 inhabitants. 

Winchester, is an inland town, in the fertile coun- 
ty of Frederic, westward of the Blue mountain. It 
is of much importance in its neighborhood as a place 
of manufacturing, retail and exchange business, num- 
bering 4300 inhabitants. 

Lynchburgh, is a very flourishing town, which 
transacts a large business in the inland trade of the 
state, as well as with several of the adjoining states 
westward. It is on a bend of James river, in a fertile 
region, in Campbell county, near the Blue mountain, 
and numbers a population of 6700. 

Wheeling, is an important town on the Ohio, west- 
ward of Pennsylvania. It partakes eminently of the 
trade of that river. Its population is 5200. 



SECTION XIV. NORTH CAROLINA. 

Raleigh, the seat of government, is an inland 
town, in the central part of the state. It appears to 
be declining in population, falling at present belou 
2000, 



334 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

None of the towns in this state are large; the popu- 
lation showing but little increase in the last ten years. 
The harbors of the state, and the channels of admis- 
sion for ships of heavy burden, are generally unfa- 
vorable to a large trade; its exports being mostly in 
smaller vessels, many of them belonging to other 
Atlantic ports. Much of its produce has heretofore 
passed by inland transportation, to the seaports of 
Virginia, and to Charleston. Its principal trading 
towns upon navigable waters are as follows: 

Wilmington, upon Cape Fear river, thirty-five 
miles from its discharge into the Atlantic. Its popu- 
lation 2800. 

Newbern, upon Neuse river, is the largest and best 
improved town in the state, seated thirty-five miles 
above the discharge of the river in Pamlico sound. 
Population 3776. 

Washington, at the head of the tide, on Pamlico 
river, numbers 1400 inhabitants. 

Edenton, is at the head of Albemarle sound. 1600 
is the amount of its population. 

The export articles of trade from these towns, are 
chiefly rice, tobacco, lumber, tar, turpentine, and 
rosin. 



SECTION XV. SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Charleston, the principal city of the state, contains 
a population of nearly 30,300. It was a town of early 
settlement, and has been a long time a prosperous and 
important commercial city: its exports being large in 
cotton and rice, the staple agricultural products of the 
state. Some of its leading inhabitants, however, com- 
plain much at present, of its ruined circumstances, and 
declining trade; from whose public statements it would 
seem, that few of tiie ships now frequenting the port, 
are owned by its merchants, and but small importa- 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 335 

tions made directly from foreign countries. These 
public statements, given by its own citizens, have 
alone prevented our noticing it at present, as a great 
commercial emporium, in our second book. Much 
of the produce of the state is transported to the states 
north-eastward, either to find a market in the manu- 
factories, or for a further transport to Europe. 

The citizens of Charleston have long sustained the 
character of dignified politeness of manners, and gene- 
rous hospitality to strangers. 

The city is seated near the middle of the sea coast, 
at the junction of the small rivers, Ashly and Cooper. 

Much of the surrounding country, for many miles 
inland, is unfavorable to a very productive cultivation; 
and the rivers not being navigable far above the city, 
the export articles from the interior and northern 
parts, are subjected to the expenses of a land trans- 
portation, except that some of the waters have been 
improved to a limited extent by canalling and other- 
wise. 

Georgetown, the trading town of next importance, 
is situated upon the Pedee river, ten miles from its 
mouth. As its population may not exceed a tenth 
part of the numbers in Charleston, its trade may be 
considered as bearing a similar proportion. 

Columbia, the seat of the state government, is an 
Inland town, near the middle of the state, with a po- 
pulation of between 3000 and 4000. 



SECTION XVI. GEORGIA. 

MiLLEDGEViLLE, the scat of legislation, is located 
near the middle of the state. It is represented to have 
decreased in population within the last ten years; its 
present number being about 1600. It is seated upon 
the river Oconee, which furnishes a good boat navi- 
gation. 



336 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

Savannah, is the only considerable seaport in the 
state. Its situation is on the Savannah river, fifteen 
miles from its mouth. It therefore is in the south-east 
corner of the state, on the confines of South Carolina. 
Its population is above 7000, but appears to have de- 
creased in the last ten years. Its trade is principally 
in the export of cotton and rice, the produce of the 
state, though the late introduction of the sugar cane 
into the south of the state, affords an additional item. 

Augusta, is an improving town, of lively and ac- 
tive inland trade, on the Savannah river, near the 
middle of the eastern line of the state. Its population 
is rated at nearly 6700. 



SECTION XVII. ALABAMA. 

Cahawba, the legislative seat, numbering 2300 
inhabitants, is at the junction of the Alabama and 
Cahawba rivers, in a central part of the state. 

Mobile, is the principal seaport, at the head of 
Mobile bay, of above 3000 inhabitants. 

Huntsville and Florence, in the fertile valley of the 
Tennessee river, in the north, are flourishing towns. 

The state having been lately organized, and of re- 
cent settlement, its trading establishments are yet in- 
considerable, compared with the old settlements. 



SECTION XVIII. MISSISSIPPI. 

The seat of government is named Jackson. It is 
located in a central situation, upon Pearl river. Its 
population is stated at 1700. 

Natchez, is the principal trading town. It is seated 
on the Mississippi, in the south-west of the state, 



m THE SEVERAL STATES. 337 

about one hundred and fifty miles on a direct course 
above New Orleans, and contains nearly 2800 inha- 
bitants. 

Monticello, is a town of rapid growth, upon Pearl 
river, in Lawrence county, numbering a population 
of 2300. 

The principal trade in the sugars and cotton of the 
state, centres in New Orleans. 



SECTION XIX. LOUISIANA. 

New Orleans, the great depot of the productions 
of the west and of the south, described as a commer- 
cial emporium, numbers 46,300 inhabitants. Having 
nearly doubled in population in the last ten years. 

Baton Rouge, is a place of considerable note, and 
rapidly increasing in population; their present num- 
bers being 2500. It stands on the east side of the 
Mississippi, eighty-five miles on a direct course above 
New Orleans. 

Natchitoches, on Red river, is a station and town 
of some importance, as the nearest considerable estab- 
lishment to the border of the Mexican territory, 
through which travellers pass, and inland despatches 
from the upper provinces of Mexico are forwarded. 



SECTION XX. TENNESSEE. 

The seat of government in this state is Murfrees- 
boro', situated in Rutherford county, very near the 
centre of the state from every direction. Being en- 
tirely an inland place, it is but little known at a dis- 
tance, except as a legislative establishment. Its num- 
ber of inhabitants amounts to 2300. 



338 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

Nashville, is on Cumberland river, thirty-five rniles 
north-west from Murfreesboro'. It is the most con- 
siderable town in the state, and may be considered 
the capital of West Tennessee, having a population 
of 5566. 

Knoxville, is situated east of the principal moun- 
tains, though in the mountainous district, in the east- 
ern part of the state. It stands on the border of Hol- 
ston river, the principal upper branch of the Tennes- 
see. Its population approaches to 3700. 

Memphis, is on the Mississippi, in the south-west 
corner of the state. 

Tennessee being distant from the navigation of the 
Atlantic rivers, and having but a small frontier upon 
the Mississippi, compared with the extent of the 
state, its principal means of transport of the products 
of agriculture, appear to be by the boat navigation 
of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, which, by 
their meandering courses, is very extensive; afford- 
ing opportunities of transport by boats to extensive 
portions of the fertile regions of the state. 



SECTION XXI. KENTUCKY. 

The town in which the legislative assembly of 
Kentucky hold their sessions, is Frankfort, seated in 
Franklin county, on Kentucky river, about sixty 
miles from its discharge into the Ohio. Its inhabit- 
ants amount to nearly 2000. 

Lexington is the oldest principal town in the state, 
seated on a fertile plain, in Fayette county, twenty- 
two miles south-east of Frankfort, and numbering 
above 6000 inhabitants. 

Louisville is the principal centre of the trade of 
the state; rapidly advancing in size and commercial 
importance. Its population appears to have advanced 
nearly 150 per cent, in ten years: being at the ceo- 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 339 

sus of 1830, 10,352, but is understood to have in- 
creased in one year, from that time, to 13 or 14,000. 
It stands on the Ohio river, near the middle longi- 
tude of the state. It is laid out upon a large and 
liberal plan; eight wide streets extending three miles 
east and west, parallel with the river, and eighteen 
similar streets crossing them, to the extent of a mile 
south from the river. It appears likely to maintain 
its rank, as one of the greatest cities of the west; be- 
ing a thoroughfare, passed by an immense number of 
travellers by land and water, as well as the seat of a 
great and vastly growing trade. Its public improve- 
ments are upon a scale, and executed in a style, 
worthy of its prospects in advance. A rapid in the 
river, has made it necessary to a convenient naviga- 
tion at low water, to construct a canal at Louisville, 
of two miles extent. The fall in the river in those 
two miles is twenty-four feet, being the only rapid 
obstructing a free navigation from Pittsburgh to New 
Orleans. The canal is very capacious — sufficient to 
pass boats of five hundred tons burden. Its locks, 
and other works, are constructed in a superior style 
of strength, beaut}', convenience, and excellence of 
workmanship. 



SECTION xxii. OHIO. 

The vast and rapid spread and increase of popula- 
tion, and of trade in the products of agriculture, in 
this state, being almost without a parallel, many of its 
principal towns are making similar advances; and 
others springing up in every quarter of the state, as 
the fitness of situations, to promote the convenience 
of the people, become developed. 

Cincinnati, the principal city, now numbers a po- 
pulation of 26,800. Having advanced to this amount 
from 9643, in ten years. 



340 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

Its extension of buildings and the improvement of 
their style — its multiplication of trade and the estab- 
lishment of public institutions, appear to keep pace 
with its advances in population. 

It stands on an elevated plain, on the border of 
Ohio river, which forms a semi-circular curve, round 
its southern part. The plan of the town is laid out 
with judgment, and adapted to the accommodation of 
a great city. 

The hills, presenting themselves at a convenient 
distance upon the back ground, are becoming exten- 
sively improved, into elegant seats of country resi- 
dence — those same grounds, which a very few years 
ago, were considered nearly v/orthless, because of 
their unfitness for common easy cultivation, selling 
now at enormous prices. 

It is situated in the south-west quarter of the state, 
about four hundred and fifty miles below Pittsburgh, 
by the courses of the river. Its merchants receive 
from the farmers of the state, and from the interior 
towns, immense and annually increasing amounts, of 
grain, flowr, pork, beef, and other agricultural pro- 
ducts, which they transmit to New Orleans and the 
Atlantic cities, for a market, and purchase in return 
the produce of the southern states, and goods of fo- 
reign importation, and from the manufacturing dis- 
tricts of the Union, such articles as the manufacturers 
of the state do not yet furnish in sufficient amount. 

Columbus is the legislative seat, with a population 
of nearly 2500. It is situated on the Sciota river, 
conveniently near to the centre of the state. 

Chilicothe is one of the oldest towns, though its 
population numbers less than some of a later date, be- 
ing rated at about 2850. It is seated on the Sciota 
river, thirty-five miles directly north from its dis- 
charge in the Ohio. 

Dayton, on the Great Miami, forty-eight miles 
north-easterly from Cincinnati, is represented as oc- 
cupying a situation, and adorning a neighborhood, of 
uncommon beauty. The town is of very modern 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 341 

date, but rapidly enlarging, and the style of building 
which prevails is liberal and elegant. Its population 
in 1830 was nearly 3000. 

Steubenville is on the Ohio river, in the east of th^ 
state, thirty-five miles nearly due west from Pitts- 
burgh. It of course has the benefit of the river trade. 
Its population amounts to 5500. 

Marietta is at the mouth of the Muskingum river. 
Its inhabitants 1200. 

Zanesville is on the Muskingum, nearly fifty miles 
inland, with a population of above 3000. 

A further description of the towns of this state, 
would probably be, in some respects, a very imper- 
fect sketch in a very few years hence; in consequence 
of the rapid advances making in improvement, by the 
progress of agriculture and manufactures, and the 
very extensive lines of canal, forming with great des- 
patch, from the resources of the state, yet as it were 
in its minority. These, as they open an easy com- 
munication between different parts, hundreds of miles 
distant from each other, will be likely to favour the 
establishment of new towns, and facilitate the growth 
of older, according as corresponding circumstances 
may be found to impart their influence. 



SECTION XXIII. INDIANA. 

Indianapolis, near the middle of the state, on a 
branch of White river, is the seat of government of 
Indiana. Its inhabitants amount to 1300. 

Vincennes is on the Wabash, in the south-western 
quarter, with a population of 1800. 

Indiana is supposed to be equally favoured with 
Ohio, in the quality of its soil and in situation. Its 
improvements, as they rapidly advance, are also of 
29* 



342 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS 

similar character. But being of later settlement, the 
advances of the state as a whole, are proportionably 
in arrears. The south-eastern quarter conveniently 
communicates in trade with Cincinnati. 



SECTION XXIV. ILLINOIS. 

Vandalia has much more than doubled its popu- 
lation in ten years; numbering at present 2373. It is 
situated in the southern half of the state, near its mid- 
dle longitude, and is the seat of government. 

Kaskaskia, is near the junction of Kaskaskia river, 
with the Mississippi. Its population is nearly 1400. 

The town of Galena is at the lead mines, on Fever 
river, in the north-west of the state. 

This state, though possessing great advantages in 
soil and circumstances, is still later than Indiana, in 
the date of its general improvements. Much of its 
agricultural labour and care, are devoted to the rear- 
ing of stock of various descriptions, which finds its 
way to different markets on foot. 



SECTION XXV. MISSOURL 

Jefferson City, designed for the capital of Mis- 
souri, is seated on the south side of Missouri river, 
near the middle of the state. Its population amounts 
to 1333. 

St. Louis, on the Mississippi, below the junction of 
the Missouri, may be presumed to have had its origin 
and name, more than a hundred years ago; at a pe- 
riod when the French government was in possession 
of Canada, and formed a line of settlements, extend- 
ing from New Orleans, up the Mississippi, into the 



IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 343 

heart of the continent, with design to establish a con- 
nexion with their northern possessions, and to enjoy 
the interior fur trade, and that of the north-western 
regions of the Missouri river. 

St. Louis is at present a very important station, as 
the key to the north-western trade; where the fur 
traders sell their cargoes, and purchase goods for 
their next expeditions: the goods arriving here from 
the Atlantic cities by way of the Ohio. The popu- 
lation of the town is nearly 6000, and appears to be 
fast advancing. 

St. Geneveive, on the Mississippi, fifty miles on a 
line below St. Louis, and Herculaneum about mid- 
way between them, are convenient situations to di- 
vide between them the trade in the produce of the 
lower lead mines, to be transmitted to New Orleans. 
Other principal towns are Franklin on the Missouri, 
one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. Potosi, 
in the mining district, and New Madrid on the Mis- 
sissippi, in the south-east. 



>l"Mr- 



SECTION XXVI. MICHIGAN TERRITORY. 

Detroit is the chief place of trade of this terri- 
tory. Its population is stated at 2222. Its name is 
French, signifying simply '^ The Strait," as it is situ- 
ated on the strait, forming a connexion between the 
lakes Erie and St. Clair. It has a continuous line of 
water communication from the city of New York, 
through lake Erie and the western canal of that state. 
Its importance will probably continually increase, as 
the population and improvement of the territory 
advance. 

The North-Western Territory, is at present in- 
cluded in the territorial government of Michigan. 
The advancement of white settlement has not been 



344 CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS, &C. 

sufficient to establish any town requiring our present 
notice. 

The latter observation will also apply to the Mis- 
souri Territory, though thej-e are various posts and 
stations, on the Missouri and other rivers, where 
public business is transacted with the natives, and 
where they assemble at stated periods, to meet the 
traders, on the business of their exchanges. 



SECTION XXVII. ARKANSAS TERRITORY. 

The principal town and seat of the territorial go- 
vernment of this territory, at which communication 
centres from each direction, is Little Rock, or Arko- 
polis. It is situated on the Arkansas river, seventy 
miles above its discharge in the Mississippi. The 
water of the river is seldom sufficient to pass steam- 
boats far into the territory. 



SECTION XXVIII. FLORIDA. 

Tallahassee, the seat of the territorial govern- 
ment, stands near the middle longitude of the terri- 
tory. Its growing population numbers about 2600. 

Pensacola, is seated on Pensacola bay, on a penin- 
sula, at the western extremity of the territory. A 
considerable intercourse is maintained between it and 
some other ports. Its inhabitants are numbered at 
about 3000. 

St. Augustine, is a town of old settlement, on an 
inlet of the Atlantic, in the north-east part of the ter- 
ritory, with a population of nearly 1400. It is some- 
times resorted to by invalids, for the benefit of enjoy- 
ing its mild climate, when the rigours of a northern 
winter are supposed to be injurious. 



345 



CHAPTER IV. 



TABLES OF THE COUNTIES IN 
THE SEVERAL STATES, 

With the Seats of Judicature in each County, 

In these tables, the counties are numbered, and ta- 
ken in alphabetical order. 

The positions of the counties, with reference to the 
central parts of their respective states, are distinguish- 
ed by the initial letters, N, S, E, W, N E, N W, 
S E, S W, or M. The first eight denote the points 
of the compass from the middle of the state, and M, 
denotes the position of the county to be in a part of 
the state which may be considered as belonging to its 
midland regions. The distances of the Seats of Judi- 
cature from the Capitals of their respective states, are 
laid down as they are given for the mail routes, in 
the tables of the General Post-Office for 1831. The 
sixth column in the tables is devoted to miscellaneous 
notices; but chiefly, to the mention of other towns in 
the several counties, beside the seats of judicature; or 
to the connexion of the counties with rivers, moun- 
tains, or other interesting circumstances. 



346 



SECTION I. MAINE. 



^ 






Posi- 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Angus. 


Miscellaneous. 


1 


Cumberland 


Portland 


S.W. 


53 


Scarboro, Gorham 


2 


Hancock 


Castine 


s. 


78 


Taunton, Eden 


3 


Kennebeck 


Augusta 


S.W. 





Pittston, Farmington 


4 


Lincoln 


Topsham 


s. 


31 


Wiscasset, Warren 


5 


Oxford 


Paris 


w. 


42 


Bethel, Hebron 


6 


Penobscot 


Bangor 


M. 


66 


Edington, Dixmont 


7 


Somerset 


Norridgewock 


N.W. 


28 


Bloomlield, Cornville 


8 


Waldo 


Belfast 


s. 


40 


Newport, Frankfort 


9 


Washington 


Machias 


E. 


143 


Luber, Harrington 


10 York 


Alfred 


S.W. 


86 


Sacho, Berwick 



SECTION II. NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



Counties. 



Cheshire 

Coos 

Grafton 

Hillsborough 

Merrimack 

Rockingham 

Strafford 

Sullivan 



County towns. 



Keene 

Lancaster 

Plymouth 

Amherst 

Concord 

Exeter 

Gilford 

Newport 



Posi. 


ms. fm. 


tion. 


Conc'd. 


S.W. 


63 


N. 


117 


N.W. 


40 


S. 


26 


M. 





S. E. 


39 


M. 


30 


E. 


40 



Miscellaneous. 
Hinsdale, Richmond 
Mount Washington 
Hanover, Bristol 
Hillsboro', Hancock 
Henniker, Hopkinton 
Windham,Greenlaiid 
Milton, N. Hampton 



SECTION III. VERMONT. 



i 






Posi- 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Monfr. 
59 


Miscellaneous. 


1 


Addison 


Middlebury 


W. 


Kingston, Vergennes 


2 


Bennington 


Bennington 


S.W. 


120 


Dorset, Manchester 


3 


Caledonia 


Danville 


N. E. 


29 


Linden, Burke 


4 


Chittenden 


Burlington 


N.W. 


38 


Shelburne, Charlotte 


5 


Essex 


Guildhall 


N.E. 


78 


Limington, Brunsw'k 


6 


Franklin 


St. Albans 


N.W. 


64 


Highgate, Sheldon 


7 


Grand Isle 


North Hero 


N.W. 


68 


South Hero 


8 


Orange 


Chelsea 


M. 


23 


Newberg, Bradford 


9 


Orleans 


Irasburg 


N. 


49 


Coventry, Albany 


10 


Rutland 


Rutland 


W. 


67 


Orwell, Pittsfield 


11 


Washington 


MONTPELIER 


M. 


— 


Stow, Water bury 


12 


Windham 


Fayetteville 


S. 


110 


Brattleboro, Putney 


13 


Windsor 


Woodstock 


E. 


48 


Windsor, Norwich 



347 



SECTION IV. MASSACHUSETTS. 



»-, 






Posi. 


7ns. fm.. 




r 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Boston. 


Miscellaneous. 


1 


Br.rnstable 


Barnstable 


S. E. 


68 


Cape Cod, Chatham 





Berkshire 


Lenox 


W. 


133 


Wilburton, Sheffield 


3 


Bristol 


New Bedford 


S. E. 


57 


Taunton, Westport 


4 


Dukes 


Edgar town 


S. E. 


97 


Martha's Vineyard 


.5 


Essex 


Ipswich 


N.E. 


27 


Salem, Marblehead 


6 


Franklin 


Greenfield 


N.W. 


95 


Northfield, Hadley 


7 


Hampden 


Springfield 


s.w. 


76 


Southwark,Westfield 


8 


Hampshire 


Northampton 


w. 


91 


Hatfield, Pelham 


9 


Middlesex 


Concord 


N. 


17 


Pepperill, Groton 


10 


Nantucket 


Sherburne 


S. E. 


100 


Nantucket Island 


11 


Norfolk 


Dedham 


E. 


10 


Dorchester, Randolph 


12 


Plymouth 


Plymoutii 


S. E. 


38 


Abington, Pembroke 


13 


Suffolk 


Boston 


E. 


— 


Cambridge 


14 


Worcester 


Worcester 


M. 


39 


Leicester, Sturbridge 



SECTION V. RHODE-ISLAND. 



^ 


Counties. 


County towns. 


Posi- 
tion. 


ms. fm. 
Provid. 


Miscellaneous. 


1 



3 
4 
5 


Bristol 

Kent 

Newport 

Providence 

Washington 


Bristol 

E. Greenwich 

Newport 

Providence 

Kingston 


E. 
W. 

S. E. 

N. 
S. 


15 
15 

27 

31 


Warren, Barrington 
Warwick 
Tiverton 

Pawtuxet, Smithfield 
Exeter, Richmond 



SECTION VI. CONNECTICUT. 



r 






Posi. 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


HarVd. 


Miscellaneous. 


1 


Fairfield 


Danbury 


S.W. 


61 


Fairfield, Norwalk 


2 


Hartford 


Hartford 


M. 


— 


Windsor, Enfield 


3 


Litchfield 


Litchfield 


N. W. 


31 


Colebrook, Cornwall 


4 


Middlesex 


Haddara 


S. 


25 


Middle t. Saybrook 


5 


New-Haven 


New-Haven 


s. 


34 


Milford, Guilford 


6 


New-London 


New-London 


S. E. 


42 


Norwich, Lynn 


7 


Tolland 


Toll and 


N. 


17 


Stafford, Vernon 


8 


Windham 


Brooklyn 


N.E. 


41 


Windham, Plainfield 



348 



SECTION VII. NEW YORK. 



Counties. 



1 Albany 

2 Alleghany 
3 1 Broome 

4 Cattaraugus 
SiCayuga 
6Chatauge 
7jChenango 
8 Clinton 
9|Columbia 
lOCortlandt 
11 'Delaware 
12 Dutchess 
13Erie 
l4Essex 
ISFranklin 
IGGenessee 
17 (Greene 
ISHamilton 

19 [Herkimer 

20 Jefferson 
2l!Kings 

22 Louis 

23 Livingston 
24|Madison 
25 (Monroe 
26jMontgomery 
27 New York 
28Niagara 
29|Oneida 
30Onondago 
31 'Ontario 
32|Orange 



Orleans 
Oswego 



County towns. 



Putnam 

Queens 

Rensselaer 

Richmond 

Rockland 

St. Lawrence 



42 Saratoga 



Schenectady 

Schoharie 

Seneca 



Albany 

Angelica 

Binghamton 

Elliottsville 

Auburn 

Mayville 

Norwich 

Plattsburgh 

Hudson 

Cort't Village 

Delhi 

Poughkeepsie 

Buffalo 

Elisabethtown 

Malone 

Batavia 

jCattskill 

jHerkimer 

iWatertown 

JFlatbush 

iMartinsburgh 

iGeneseo 

|Cazenovia 

Rochester 

Johnstown 

New York 

Lockport 

Rome 

Syracuse 

Canandaigua 

Goshen 

Albion 

Oswego 

Coopei-stown 

Carmel 

N. Hemstead 

Troy 

Richmond 

Clarkstown 

Potsdam 

Ballston 

Schenectady 

Schoharie 

Ovid 



Posi- 
tion. 

~Er 

s. w. 

s. 
s. w. 

w. 

S.W. 

s. 

N. E. 

E. 

M. 
S. E. 

S. 

w. 

N. E. 
N. 
W. 

s. w. 

M. 

M. 

N. W. 

S. 

N. 
W. 

M. 
N.W. 

E. 

S. 
N.W. 

N. 

M. 

W. 

S. 
N.W. 
N.W. 

M. 

S. 

S. 

E. 

S. 

s. 

N. 
E. 
E. 
M. 
W. 



ms. fm. 
Albany 



256 
145 
292 
156 
336 
110 
162 

29 
142 

77 

75 
284 
126 
212 
244 

34 

80 

160 

156 

129 

226 

113 

219 

45 

160 

227 

107 

133 

195 

105 

257 

167 

66 

106 

174 

6 

167 

122 

216 

29 

15 

32 

171 



Miscellaneous. 



Coeymans, Hamilton 
Almondv'e, Belvedere 
Chenango, Harpersv. 
Hamilton, McClure's 
Cato, Springport 
Dunkirk, Portland 
Smyrna, Guilford 
Beckmanton, Keesv'e 
Kinderhook 
Homer, Preble 
Walton, Roseville 
Fishkill, Rhinebeck 
Blackrock, Coldspri'g 
Essex, Westport 
Chateaugay, Bangor 
Covington, Sheldon 
Freehold, Athens 

Russia, Norway 
Sackett's Harbor 
On Long Island 
Lowville, Ley don 
Moscow, York, Avon 
Morris ville, HamiltOT 
Brighton, Pittsford 
Pelatine, Kingsbury 

Manchester, Lewis t. 
Utica, Whitesboro' 
Onondago, Milan 
Geneva, Manchester 
Newburgh, Westp't 
Ridgway, Gaines 
Richland, Constantia 
Milfordville,Hamb'Tg 
Cold Spring 
Flushing, Jericho 
Lansingburgh 
Staten Island 
jTappan, Gibraltar 
Ogdensburg, Louisv'e 
Scotia, Galway 
Duanesburg 
Middleburgh 
Waterloo, Farmersv'e 



349 



? 






Posi. 


ms.fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Albany 


Miscellaneous. 


46 


Steuben 


Bath 


S. W. 


216 


Liberty, Howard 


47 


Suffolk 


Suffolk 


S. E. 


225 


L.Island, Sag Harbor 


48 


Sullivan 


Monticello 


s. 


113 


Rome, Burlingham 


49 


Tioga 


Elmira 


s.w. 


198 


Oswega, Newtown 


50 


Tompkins 


Ithica 


s. w. 


163 


Ludlowville 


51 


Ulster 


Kingston 


s. 


58 


Glasgow, Marble t. 


52 


Warren 


Caldwell 


N. E. 


62 


Johnsburgh, Chester 


53 


Washington 


Salem 


E. 


46 


Sandy Hill, Shaftsb'y 


54 


Wayne 


Lyons 


N.W. 


181 


Palmyra, Clyde 


55 


Westchester 


Bedford 


S. 


135 


W. Chester, Cretan 


56 


Yates 


Pennyan 


w. 


185 


Dresden, Esperanza 



SECTION VIII. NEW JERSEY. 



? Counties. 



1 Bergen 

2 j Burlington 
3|Cape May 
4!Cumberland 
5 1 Essex 

6 Gloucester 

7 [Hunterdon 
8iMiddlesex 
9 1 Monmouth 

lOiMorris 
lljSalem 
12j Somerset 
13, Sussex 
14; Warren 





Posi- 


ms. fm. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Trent. 


Hackensack 


N. E. 


63 


Mount Holly 


S. 


21 


Middletown 


s. 


102 


Bridgetown 


s.w. 


69 


N^ewark 


N. E. 


49 


Woodbury 


S. 


39 


Trenton 


w. 


— 


N. Brunswick 


M. 


27 


Freehold 


E. 


36 


Morristown 


N. 


55 


Salem 


S.W. 


65 


Somerville 


M. 


33 


Newton 


N. 


70 


Belvedere 


N.W. 


54 



Miscellaneous. 
Hoboken,Charlottesb. 
Moores t. Lumberton 
Cold Spring 
Deerfield, Fairton 
Elizabeth t. Patterson 
Wey mouth,Bargain t. 
Flemington 
Lumberton,Cranbury 
Allentown,Shrewsb'y 
Mendham 
Sharptown, Canton 
Germanto^vn 
Blue Mountain 
Hackets t. Hope 



SECTION IX. PENNSYLVANIA. 



Counties. 



Adams 

Alleghany 

Armstrong 

Beaver 

Bedford 

Berks 

Bradford 

Bucks 

Butler 

Cambria 



County towns. 



Gettysburg 

Pittsburg 

Kittaning 

Beaver 

Bedford 

Reading 

Towanda 

Doylestown 

Butler 

Ebensburg 

30 



Posi. 


ms. fm. 


tion. 


Harris. 


S. 


34 


w. 


201 


w. 


183 


w. 


229 


s.w. 


105 


E. 


52 


N. E. 


128 


E. 


107 


W. 


204 


M. 


131 



Miscellaneous. 
Hunters t. Petersb'rg 
Birmingham 
Alleghany r. 
Brighton, Greensb'rg 
McConnells t, 
Blue m. Womelsdorf 
Lees r. Tioga r. 
Bristol, Newhope 
Woodville 
Alleghany m. 



350 



:^ 






Posi. 


ms. fin. 




® 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Harris. 


Miscellaneous. 


lljCentre 


BeUefonte 


M. 


85 


Milesboio, B.Eagle c. 


12 'Chester 


Westchester 


S. E. 


75 


Downing t. Coatsville 


13 


Clearfield 


Clearfield 


M. 


129 


W.Branch Susqueha. 


14 


Columbia 


Danville 


N. E. 


65 


Bloomsbury 


15 


Crawford 


Meadville 


N.W. 


236 


French c. Pottersville 


16 Cumberland 


Carlisle 


S. 


18 


Blue m. Shippenburg 


17 


Daupliin 


Harrisburg 


M. 


— 


Middletown 


18 


Delav.'are 


Chester 


S. E. 


95 


Darby, Lazaretto 


19 


Erie 


Erie 


N.W. 


272 


Lexington,Wateribrd 


20 


Fayette 


Uniontown 


s.w. 


184 


Chesnut Ridge 


21 


Franklin 


Chambersburg 


s. 


48 


Tuscarora m. 


22 


Greene 


Waynesburgh 


s.w. 


222 


New Market, Lisbon 


23 


Huntingdon 


Huntingdon 


M. 


90 


Connelsburg 


24 


Indiana 


Lidiana 


W^ 


157 


Blairsville 


25 


JefFerson 


Brookville 


N.^V. 


165 


Port Barnet 


26 


Juniata 




M. 




Tuscarora m. 


27 


Lancaster 


Lancaster 


S. K 


35 


Strasburg, Marietta 


28 


Lebanon 


Lebanon 


M. 


24 


Millers t. Jones t. 


29 


Lehigh 


Allentowm 


E. 


85 


Blue m. Trexlers t. 


30 


Luzerne 


Wilkesbarrc 


M. 


114 


Shawny t.Tmikhanna 


31 


Lycoming 


Williarasport 


N. 


97 


Newberry, Jersey sh. 


32 


McKean 


Smethport 


N.W. 


200 


Stanton, Norwich 


33 


Mercer 


Mercer 


W. 


235 


Sharon, N. Bedford 


34 


Mifflin 


Lewistown 


M. 


55 


Juniata, Belleville 


35 


Montgomery 


Norristown 


S. E. 


88 


Schuylkill, Potts t. 


36 


Northampton 


Easton 


E. 


101 


Blue m.Stroudsburgh 


37 


Northumber- 


Sunbury 


M. 


52 


Snyders t. Nortiiumb. 


38 


Perry [land 


N. Bloomfield 


M. 


36 


Juniata r. Liverpool 


39 


Philadelphia 


Philadelphia 


S. E. 


98 


German t. Frankford 


40 


Pike 


Milford 


N. E. 


157 


Bushville 


41 


Potter 


Condersport 


N. 


174 


Head of Alleghany r. 


42 


Schuylkill 


Orwigsburgh 


E. 


59 


Fredensburgh 


43 


Somerset 


Somerset 


S. W. 


143 


Smithfield 


44 


Susquehanna 


Montrose 


N. E. 


163 


Friendsville 


45 


Tioga 


Wellsborough 


N. 


■ 147 


Covington 


46 


Union 


New Berlin 


M. 


60 


Freeburg 


47 


Venango 


Franklin 


N.W^ 


212 


Alleghany r. 


48 


Warren 


Warren 


N.W. 


240 


Alleghany r. 


49 


Washington 


Washington 


S.W. 


212 


Hillsboro, Greenfield 


50 


Wayne 


Bethany 


N.E. 


162 


Stockport, Damascus 


51 


Westmoreland 


Greensburgh 


S.W. 


170 


Mt.Pleasant, Young t. 


52 


York 


York 


S. E. 


24 


Hanover, Liverpool 



351 



SECTION X. DELAWARE. 



^ 


Counties. 


County towns. 


Posi. 
tion. 


ms. fm. 
Dover. 


Miscellaneous, 


1 

2 
3 


Kent 

New Castle 
Sussex 


Dover 

New Castle 
Georgetown 


M. 

N. 
S. 


42 

40 


Smyrna, Milford 
Newark, Newport 
Lewistown, Laurel 



SECTION XI. MARYLAND. 



EASTERN SHORE. 



Counties. 



Caroline 

C^cil 

Dorchester 

Kent 

Queen Anne's 

Somerset 

Talbot 

Worcester 





Posi. 


ms. fm. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Annap. 


Denton 


E. 


44 


Elkton 


N.E. 


80 


Cambridge 


S. E. 


62 


Chestertown 


N.E. 


47 


Centreville 


E. 


32 


Princess Ann 


S. E. 


107 


Easton 


E. 


47 


Snow Hill 


S. E. 


127 



Miscellaneotis. 
Greensboro, Hilsboro 
Port Deposit 
Choptank r. 
Georgetown 
Kent Island, Wye r. 
Pokomoke r. Salisb'y 
Oxford, Louistown 
Pokomoke r. Atlantic 



WESTERN SHORE. 



Alleghany 

Annarundel 

Baltimore 

Calvert 

Charles 

Frederick 

Harford 

Montgomery 

Prince George 

St. Mary's 

Washinffton 



Cumberland 

Annapolis 

Baltimore 

Pr. Frederick 

Port Tobacco 

Frederick 

Bell Air 

Rockville 

Marlborough 

Leonardtown 

Haffarstown 



w. 


165 


M. 





M. 


30 


S. 


63 


s. 


60 


N.W. 


76 


N.E. 


53 


W. 


52 


M. 


23 


S. 


82 


W. 


101 



Allegh'y m. Yough r. 
West r. Elkridge 
Gunpowder r. 
Patuxent r. 
Bryan t. Newport 
Emmittsburgh 
Haverdegrace, Joppa 
Triadelphia, Clarksb, 
Bladensburg 
Patuxent river 
Tuscarora m. 



SECTION XII. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 



? 


Counties. 


County towns. 


Posi 
tion. 


ms. fm. 
Wash. 


Miscellaneous. 


1 

2 


Alexandria 
Washington 


Alexandria 
Washington 


S. 

M. 


7 


George Town 



352 



SECTION XIII. VIRCtLNIA. 



^ 




Post. 


ms. ;>«. 




? Counties. 


County toicns. 


tion. 


Rich?n. 


^^^sceUuneous. 


1 Accomack 


C. H. > 


e! 


214 


E. of Chesapeak Riy 


•2 Albemarle 


Charlottesville ' 


M. 


SI 


Monticello 


3 -Alleghany 


Covington ! 


M. 


191 


Head of James r. 


4 Amelia 


C.H. 


S. E. 


47 


Panesrille, Mansfield 


.5 Amherst 


C. H. 


31. 


136 


Amherst springs 


6 Aucfusta 


Staunton 


M. 


121 


Middlebrook 


7 Bath 


C. H. 


M. 


170 


MountaiQS,Warm sp. 


5 Bedford 


Liberty ' 


S. 


145 


Blue ridge, James r. 


9 Berkley 


^lartinsburgh ' 


N. 


172 


Gerrards tJamesb'rg 


10 Botetourt 


Fincastle 


M. 


176 


Amsterdam, Florence 


11 Brooke 


Wellsburgh 


N.W. 


373 


Ohio r. Penna. line 


1'2 Bnmswiek 


LawrenceviUe 


S. 


69 


HarrisviUe 


13 Buckinoham 


C.H. 


M. 


87 


Maysville, X. Canton 


UCabeU 


C.H. 


W. 


^44 


Guyandot, Oliio r. 


15 Campbell 


C.H. 


S. 


132 


Lvnchburg 


16 Caroline 


Bowlinggreen 


N. E. 


44 


Port Royal 


17 Charles City 


C.H. 1 


E, 


30 


James r. 


IS Charlotte 


C.H. 1 


S. 


96 


Keysville, Roanoke r. 


19 Chesterfield 


C.H. ' 


S, R 


14 


Coal uunes 


20 Culpepper 


C.H. 


N.K 


94 


Jefferson t. 


21 Cumberland 


C.H. 


S. E. 


55 


Cartersville, James r. 


22 Dinwiddle 


C.H. 


S.E. 


40 


Petersburg 


23 Elizabeth City 


Hampton 


S. E. 


96 


Old Pomt^Comfort 


24 Essex 


Tappahannock 


E. 


50 


Layton 


25 Fairfax 


Fairfax 


N. E. 


129 


Mount Vernon 


26 Fauquier 


Warrenton ■ 


X. E. 


107 


Rappahannoc r. 


27 Fluvanna 


Palmyra 


M. 


5J 


W Llmin 2 1 on . Colum b . 


2S Franklin 


Rocky :Mount 


s. 


ISo 


Blue ridge, German t. 


29 Frederick 


Winchester 


X. 


150 


Stephensburg 


30 Giles 


C.H. 


s. w. 


240 


Kenhawa r. Parisb'g 


31 Gloucester 


C.H. 


E. 


82 


Gloucester, York r. 


32 Goochland 


C.H. 


M. 


28 


Hadensville, Dover 


33 Grayson 


C.H. 


S. W. 


276 


Xew r. of Kenhawa 


^ Greenbriar 


Lewisburgh 


W. 


221 


Kenhawa r. 


35 GreenviUe 


Hicksford 


S.E. 


63 


Bellefield, Mehenon r. 


36 Halifax 


C.H. 


S. 


130 


Bannister, Meadsv'lle 


37 Hampshire 


Ronmev 


X. 


195 


Mountains 


38 Hanover 


C.H. 


E. 


20 


Woodville, X. Castle 


39 Hardy 


Moorfields 


N. 


195 


Mountains 


40 Harrison 


Qarksburg 


N.W. 


26«3 


Bridgeport, Bull t. 


41 Henrico 


RlCHMONT) 


E. 


— 




42Henrv 


Martinsville 


S. 


207 


Irvine r. 


43 Isle of Wight 


Smithfield 


S. E. 


SO 


James r.Blackwater r. 


44 James city 


Williamsburg 


; S. E. 


■ 60 


James town 


45 Jefferson 


Charleston 


1 N. 


I 182 


Smithfield 


46 Kenhawa 


C. H. 


W. 


! 308 


Kenhawa r. 



353 



Counties. County towns. 
King «fc Queen C. H. 
King George ,C. H. 
KiBg William C. H. 



Posi. 
tion. 



ms. fm. 
^Richm. 



Miscellaneous. 



Lancaster 
Lee 

Lewis 

Logan 

Loudoun 

Louisa 

Lunenbiirgh 

Madison 

Mason 

Matthews 

3Iulilenburgh Boydston 

^liddlesex Urbanna 

^lonongahela 

■\Ionroe 

Montgomery 

Mor^an 



C. H. 

jJonesville 

Weston 

C. H. 

Leesburgh 

C. H. 

C. H. 

C. H. 

Point Pleasant: 

C. H. ! 



1 N. E. 


; 42 


Dunkirk, Walker t. 


1 E. 


^ 


Point Conwav 


i E. 


'21 


Brandywine 


i E. 


83 


Chesapeak bay 


i S. W. 


, 392 


Cumberland m. 


j N.W. 


249 


SoutherviUe 


W. 


, 324 


Guyandot r. 


N.E. 


i 156 


Waterton, MillviUe 


E. 


54 


YanceyviDe 


S. 


91 


Lewiitown 


N. E. 


110 


Madison, Blue m. 



Xansemond 

Nelson 

New Kent 

Nicholas 

Norfolk 

Northampton 

North umberl'dC 

Nottaway 

Ohio 

Orange 

Patrick 

Pendleton 

Pittsylvania 

Pocohontas 

Powhatan 

Preston 

Pr. Edward 



Morgantown 

Union 

Christiansb'gh 

Berkley Spr'gs 

Suffolk 

jLivingston 

C. H. 

'c. H. : 

jPortsmouth I 
Eastville 

H. 
|C. H. ; 

jWheeline- 



C.H. 

C. H. 

Franklin 

•C.H. 

Huntersville 

JScottsville 

Kingwood 

f.n. 



Prince George Tern pleton 

Princess Anne C. H. 

Pr. William iBrentsville 



Randolph 

Richmond 

Rockbridge 

Rockingham 

Russell 

Scott 

Shanandoah 

Southampton 

Spottsylvania 

Stafford 



I Beverly 

C. H. ' I 

Lexington i 
.Harrisburgh ■, 
j Lebanon 
jCastleville 
jWoodstock 
Jerusalem | 
jFredericksb'rg; 
C. H. ! 



W. 

E. 

S. 

E. 
N. W. 
S. W. 
S. W. 

N. 
S. E. 

M. 

E. 

W. 
S. E. 

E. 

E. 
S. E. 
N.W. 

M. 

S. 

N. 

S. 

M. 
S. E. 

N. 

S. 

E. 
S. E. 
N. E. 
N.W. 

E. 

M. 

M. 
S. W. 
S. W. 

N. 
S. E. 
N.E. 
N.E. 



356 

100 

118 

83 

223 

208 

206 

186 

102 

118 

30 

268 

116 

174 

92 

67 

357 

80 

241 

171 

167 

191 

32 

261 

75 

35 

137 

104 

j 210 

I 56 

156 

I 122 

330 

357 

156 

81 

66 

76 



iKenhawa r. 
New Point Comfort 
jRoasoke r. 
|Rap r. Chesapeak bav 
.Smithfield, King t. ' 
jSweet Springs 
|Newburn, Inglesvilie 
iTuscjLTora m. 
Lake Drummond 
Nev/ Market, Blue m. 
jCumberland 
IKenhawa r, 
iDismal Swamp, Gos- 
I [port 

I Mouth of Potomac 
'Morgansville 
■Elizabeth t. 
jWhite Plains 
jTaylorsville, Blue m> 
[Moimtain& 
jPeyton'sburgh 
Heads of Elk r. 
; Jefferson, Hopkin&on 
Monongahela r. 
Chalky Level 
Broadway ,Powhattau 
Kempsville, Ocean 
;DumlTies,Occoquan r 
i3IorgansvL!le 
Rappahannoc r. 
Natural Bridge 
jShanandoah r. 
Franklin, Clinch r. 
Cumberland m, 
Strasburg, New Mills 
Nottoway r. 
Wilderness 
Falmouth 



30^ 



354 









Posi. 


7ns. fin. 




No. 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Richm. 


Miscellaneous. 


96 


Surry 


C. H. 


S.E. 


60 


Cobham, Cabin Point 


97 


Sussex 


C. H. 


s.w. 


50 




98 


Tagewell 
Tyler 


C. H. 


s.w. 


290 


Mountains 


99 


Middlebourne 


N. W. 


307 


Ohio r. 


100 


Warwick 


C. H. 


S.E. 


81 


James r. mouth 


101 


Washington 


Abingdon 


S.W. 


309 


Scottsville, mountains 


10^ 


Westmoreland 


C.H. 


N. 


70 




103 


Wood 


Packersburgh 


N.W. 


299 


Ohio r. 


104 


Wythe 


C.H. 


S.W. 


253 


Evansham 


105 


York 


Yorktown 


E. 


72 


Chesapeak bay 



SECTION XIV. NORTH CAROLINA. 



^ 






Posi. 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


RaleVh 


Miscellaneous. 


~T 


Anson 


Wadesboro' 


S.W. 


134 


Rocky r. 


2 


Ashe 


JefFersonton 


N.W. 


205 


Heads of Kenhawa r. 


3 


Beaufort 


Washington 


E. 


122 


Pamlico sound 


4 


Bertie 


Windsor 


N. E. 


130 


Wottington 


5 


Bladen 


Elizabethtown 


S- 


99 


Cape Fear r. 


6 


Brunswick 


Smithville 


S. 


178 


Oldtown 


7 


Buncombe 


Ashville 


w. 


259 


Warm Springs 


8 


Burke 


Morgantown 


w. 


199 


Table m. Catawba r. 


9 


Cabarras 


Concord 


s.w. 


141 


Rocky r. 


10 


Camden 


New Lebanon 


N.E. 


201 


Dismal Swamp 


11 


Carteret 


Beaufort 


S. E. 


166 


Core sound 


12 


Caswell 


C.H. 


N. 


93 


Learsbarg, Milton 


13 


Chatham 


Pittsboro' 


M. 


33 


Cape Fear r. 


14 


Chowan 


Edenton 


N.E. 


155 


Albemarle sound 


15 


Columbus 


Whitesville 


S. 


138 


Fair Bluff 


16 


Craven 


Newburn 


E. 


120 


Pamlico sound 


17 


Cumberland 


Fayetteville 


S. 


61 


Cape Fear r. 


18 


Currituck 


C.H. 


N.E. 


211 


Albemarle sound 


19 


Davidson 


Lexington 


W. 


110 


Yadkin r. 


20 


Duplin 


Kenansville 


S. E. 


120 




21 


Edgecombe 


Tarboro' 


E. 


72 


Stanton 


22 


Franklin 


Louisburgh 


M. 


30 


Tar r. 


23 


Gates 


C.H. 


N.E. 


141 


Dismal Swamp 


24 


Granville 


Oxford 


N. 


47 


Head of Tar r. 


25 


Greene 


Snow Hill 


E. 


84 




26 


Guilford 


Greensboro' 


M. 


85 


Martinsville 


27 


Halifax 


Hallifax 


N.E. 


86 


Innfield, Scotland 


28 


Haywood 


C.H. 


S.W. 


295 


Heads of Tennessee r. 


29 


Hertford 


Winton 


N.E. 


129 


Pitch Landing 


30 


Hyde 


Lake Landing 


E. 


20V 


Woodstock,German t. 


31 


Iredell 


Statesville 


W. 


146 


Heads of Yadkin r. 


3S 


Johnson 


Smithfield 


M. 


47 


Neuse r. 


32 


Jones 


Trenton 


S.E. 


140 


Whitcock r. 



355 



►> 






Posi. 


ms.fm. 




f 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


RaleVh 


Miscellaneous. 


34 


Lenoir 


Kinston 


S. E. 


80 


Neuse r. 


35 


Lincoln 


Lincolnton 


S.W. 


169 


Catawba r. 


36 


Macon 


Ffanklin 


S.W. 


333 




37 


Martin 


Williamston 


E. 


106 


James t. Roanoke r. 


38 


Muhlenburgh 


Charlotte 


S.W 


150 


Catawba r. 


39 


Montgomery 


Lawrenceville 


S.W. 


109 


Henderson, AUenton 


40 


Moore 


Carthage 


M. 


69 




41 


Nash 


Nashville 


N.E. 


44 


Tarr. 


42 


New Hanover 


Wilmington 


S. 


149 


Berlin, S.Washington 


43 


Northampton 


C. H. 


N.E. 


95 


Welden, Princeton 


44 


Onslow 


C.H. 


S. E. 


188 • 


Swansboro, Ocean 


45 


Orange 


Hillsborough 


M. 


41 


Chapel Hill 


46 


Pasquotank 


Elizabeth City 


N.E. 


189 


Nixonton, Alb. sound 


47 


Perquimous 


Hartford 


N.E. 


167 


Albemarle somid 


48 


Person 


Roxboro' 


N. 


60 


Hycot r. 


49 


Pitt 


Greenville 


E. 


97 


Tar r. 


50 


Randolph 


Ashboro' 


M. 


72 




51 


Richmond 


Rockingham 


S. W. 


113 


Great Peedee r. 


52 


Robeson 


Lumberton 


s. 


94 


Lumber r. of Peedee 


53 


Rockingham 


Wentworth 


N. 


65 


Danr. 


54 


Rowan 


Salisbury 


W. 


125 


Mocksville 


55 


Rutherford 


Rutherfordton 


s. w. 


215 


Heads of Broad r. 


56 


Sampson 


C.H. 


NW. 




S. r. of Cape Fear 


57 


Stokes 


Germantown 


N.W. 




Danr. 


58 


Surry 


Rockford 


N.W. 




Pilot m. 


59 


Tyrrell 


Columbia 


E. 




Swamps 


60 


Wake 


Raleigh 


M. 





Neuse r. 


61 


Warren 


Warrenton 


N. 




Roanoke r. 


62 


Washington 


C.H. 


E. 




Plymouth 


63 


Wayne 


Waynesboro' 


E. 




Neuse r. 


64 


Wilkes 


Wilkesboro' 


N.W. 




Yadkin r. Gold 



SECTION XV. SOUTH CAROLINA. 



^ 






Posi. 


ms. fm. 




Districts. 


Court towns. 


tion. 


Colum. 


Miscellaneous. 


1 


Abbeville 


Abbeville 


W. 




Vienna, Cambridge 


2 


Barnwell 


C.H. 


W. 


62 


Savannah r. 


3 


Beaufort 


Cousauhatchie 


s. 


147 


Graham t. Parisburgh 


4 


Charleston 


Charleston 


s. 


110 


Eutaw sps. Pineville 


5 


Chester 


C.H. 


N. 


57 


Lewisville 


6 


Chesterfield 


C.H. 


N.E. 


102 


Cheraw 


7 


Colleton 


Waterboro' 


s. 


93 


Willtown, Dorchester 


8 


Darlington 


C.H. 


E. 


86 


Mechanicville 


9 


Edgefield 


C.H. 


W. 


57 


N. Richmond 


10 


Fairfield 


Winnsboro' 


M. 


29 


Broad r. 


11 


Georgetown 


Georafetown 


S. E. 


134 


Black r. 


12 


Greenville 


c.h: 


N.W. 


117 


Merrittsville 


13 


Horry 


Conwayboro' 


S. E. 


150 


Waccamaw r. 



356 



^ 






Posi- 


7ns. fm. 




Districts. 


Court towns. 


tion. 


Colum. 


Miscellaneous. 


u 


Kershaw 


Camden 


M. 


38 


Wateree r. 


15 


Lancaster 


Lancaster 


N, 


73 


Wateree r. 


16 


Laurens 


Laurensville 


N.W. 


79 


Huntsville 


17 


Lexington 


C. H. 


M. 


12 


Saluda r. 


18 


Marion 


Marion 


E. 


115 


Springville 


19 


Mailborough 


Beunetville 


N.E. 


102 


Great Peedee r. 


20 


Newberry 


Newbury 


M. 


45 


Saluda r. 


21 


Orangebm-gh 


Orangeburgh 


M. 


43 


Edisto r. 


22 


Pendleton 


Pendleton 


N.W. 






23 Pickens 


C. H. 




157 




24 Richland 


CoLUiMBIA 


M. 


— 


Minervaville 


25 Spartensburgh 


Spartensburgh 


N. 


104 


Meansville 


26iSumpicr 


Sunipterville 


M. 


44 


Statesb'g,Manchester 


27:Union 


Unionville 


N. 


77 


Pinkneyville 


28;Wiliiamsburg 


Kingstree 


S. E. 


86 


Indian town 


29|York 


C.H 


N. 


78 


BellviUe 



SECTION XVI. GEORGIA. 









Posi- 


tns. fm. 




^ 


Counties. 


County towns. 
C.H. 


tion. 


Milled. 


Miscellaneous. 


~1 


Applinff 


S. E. 


145 


E. Swamp 


2 Baker 


Byron 




155 




3 Baldwin 


Mit.t.edgevi'le 


M. 





Salem, Scottsboro' 


4 Bibb 


Macon 


M. 


35 


Ocmulgce r. 


5 Bryan 


C.H. 


E. 




Hardwick 


6 Bullock 


Statesboro' 


E. 


117 


Cannouchee r. 


7 Burke 


Waynesboro' 


E. 


87 


Savannah r. 


8 Butts 


Jackson 




51 




9 Camden 


Jeffersonton 


S. E. 


212 


Colerain, St.Mary's r. 


lOCampbell 


Campbelton 




134 




11 


Carroll 


Carrolton 




153 




i^ 


Chatham 


Savannah 


E. 


167 


Vernonburgh 


13 


Clark 


Watkinsville 


E. 


69 


Athens 


14 


Columbia 


Applingville 


E. 


93 


Raesville 


15 


Coweta 


Newnam 




129 




16 


Crawford 


Knoxville 


M. 


60 


Flint river 


17 


Decatur 


Bainbridge 




206 




18 


De Kalb 


Decatur 


N.W. 


117 


Chatahoochee r. 


19 


Dooly 


Berrien 


S.W- 


97 


Flint river 


20 


Early 


Blakely 


S: W. 


227 


Flint river 


21 


Effingham 


Willoughby 


E. 


181 


Springfield, Ebenezer 


22 


Elbert 


Elberton 


N. E. 


101 


EdinburgjPetersburg 


23 


Emanuel 


Swainsboro' 


E. 


79 


Ohoopee river 


24 


Fayette 


Fayettevillc 


W. 


107 


Chatahoochee 


25 


Franklin 


Carnesville 


N.E. 


114 


Tugaloo r. 


26 


Glynn 


Brunswick 


E. 


200 i 


Crow Harbor 


57 


Greene 


Greensboro' 


N. E. 


44 1 


Oconee r. 



357 



? Covniies. 




Posi. 


ms. fin. 




County towns. 


tion. 


Milled. 


Miscellaneous. 


28 Gwinnett 


Lawrenceville 


N.W. 


93 ■ 




29 


Habersham 


Clarksville 


N. E. 


144 


Turoree r. 


30 


Hall 


Gainsville 




123 




31 


Hancock 


Sparta 


M. 


24 


Powellton 


32 


Harris 


Hamilton 




134 




33Henry 


McDonough 




85 




34 Houston 


Perry 


M. 


60 


Flint r. 


35; Irwin 


C. H. 


S. 




Ocklockey r. 


36iJackson 


Jefferson 


N.E. 


98 


Clarksboro' 


371 Jasper 


MonticelJo 


M. 


35 


Ocmulgeer. 


331 Jefferson 


Louisville 


E. 


52 


Ogeechee r. 


39Jones 


Clinton 


M. 


23 




40i Laurens 


Dublin 


M. 


47 




41 Lee 


Pindertown 




130 




42' Liberty 


Riceboro' 


E. 


202 


Sunbury 


43 1 Lincoln 


Lincoln ton 


N.E. 


100 


Goshen, Lisbon 


44Loundes 


Franklinville 




187 




45 Madison 


Danielsville 


N.E. 


92 




46 1 Mcintosh 


Darien 


E. 


187 




47 [Marion 


C. H. 




174 




48, Merry weather 


Greenville 




111 




49! Monroe 


Forsyth 


M. 


60 




50 Montgomery 


Mount Vernon 


M. 


89 


Oconee r. 


51 i Morgan 


Madison 




44 




52 Muscogee 


Columbus 




120 




53 Newton 


Covington 


M. 


60 




54 Oglethorpe 


Lexington 


N.E. 


69 




55iPike 


Zebulon 




86 




56;Pulaski 


Hartford 


M. 


67 




57 Putnam 


Eatonton 


M. 


22 




58 Rabun 


Clayton 


N. 


174 




59 Randolph 


C.H. 




170 




60 Richmond 


Augusta 
Jacksonboro' 


E. 


90 


Harrisboro', Bedford 


eiScriven 


E. 


144 




62jTalbot 


Talboton 




112 




63TaUiaferro 


Crawfordsville 




47 




64|Tatnall 


Perry's Mills 


E. 


115 




65|Telfair 


Jacksonville 


S. 


111 




66|Thomas 


Thomasville 




235 




67iTroup 


La Grange 




133 




68 Twiggs 


Marion 


M. 


37 




69 Upson 


C.H. 




87 




70 


Walton 


Monroe 


N. 


72 




71 


Ware 


Waresboro' 




161 




72 


Warren 


Warrenton 


E. 


49 


Georgetown 


73 


Washington 


Sandersville 


M. 


27 




74 


Wayne 


Waynesville 


S.W. 


190 




75 


Wilkes 


Washington 


N.E. 


64 


Wrightsboro' 


76 


Wilkinson 


Irwinton 


M. 


20 





358 



SECTION XVII. ALABAMA. 



Counties. 



County tokens. 



Post- 
Hon. 



ms. fin: 
TuscaV 



1 Ataug'a 

2 Baldwin 

3 Bibb 

4 Blount 

5 Butler 

6 Clarke 
TConeculi 
SiCovington 
9 Dallas 

10; Fayette 
ll! Franklin 
12' Greene 
1.3 Henry 

14 Jackson 

15 Jefferson 
16: Lauderdale 
It Lawrence 
18' Limestone 
l9tLoundes 
20: Madison 

21 Marengo 

22 ?.Iarion 
23l Mobile 
24! Monroe 

25' Montgomery 
261 Morgan 
27! Perry 
28iPickin8 
29 i Pike 
30iSt. Clair 
3i Shelby 
32 Tuscaloosa 
33iWalker 
3 4j Washington 
3.5WiIcox 



(Washington 
JBlakely 
iCentre\-ille 
Blountsville 
Greenville 
ClarksvUle 
Sparta 
Montezuma 
Cahawba 
C. H. 
Russelville 
Erie 

Columbia 
Bedfonte 
Elyton 
Florence 
Moulton 
A.thens 
C. H. 
Hunts ville 
Linden 
PikeviUe 
Mobile 
Claibourne 
Montgomery 
Somerville 
C.H. 

Pickinsville 
IC. H. 
Ash ville 
Shelbyville 

TUSCAJLOOSA 

C.H. 
C.H. 

jCanton 



i M. 
I S. W. 

M. 

N. 

S. 
S.W. 

s. 
s. 

M. 
N.W. 

w^ 

S. E. 

N. 
N. 
N.W. 
N. 
N. 

N. 

W. 
N.W. 
S. W. 
S.W. 

M. 

N. 

M. 

W. 
S. E. 
N.E. 

M. 

M. 

Is. W. 
i s. 



129 
228 

39 
110 
143 
146 
205 
187 

96 

59 
127 

47 
260 
172 

59 
146 
102 
130 
131 
155 

78 
118 
189 
157 
119 
135 

61 

48 
179 
129 

93 

47 

146 

( 113 



Miscellaneous. 
lAntauga, C<x)sanda 
Mobile Bay 
;Penootaw 

Burnt Com 
iCoffeeville, Sugsville 
Conecuh r. 

jSelma, Portland 

I 

Tusambia, Bainbri'ge 

'Greensboro' 



Carrol ton, Jonesboro' 
Havanna 

Courtland, Marathon 
Bridge water, Triano 

]Hazle Green 
jDemopoiis 

I Dumfries, Florida 

iVJemon, Augusta 

D^^atur 

iManon 



\ 



'Wilson HiU 
iMacoun's Bluff 

Stephens t. 
Blacksburg 



359 



SECTION XVIII. MISSISSIPPI. 



? j Counties. 




Fosi. i 


//w. fm. 




County towns. 


tion. 
S. W. 


J^jch'n 


yfirScellan^i-L^. 


l|Adaiiis 
2 Amite 
OtTlaibome 


-Natchez 


U-2 


Washington 


Liberty 


s. w. 


1>2 


Elysian fields 


Port Gibson 


w. 


67 


Brunisbursf 


' Copiah 


Gallatin 


S.W. 


53 


- 


" rovington 


Williamsburg 


S. E. 


S3 


Moont Camitl 


Franklin 


Meadville 


s. w. 


105 


Franklin 


■" Greene 


LeakesvUle 


S.E. 


171 


Leaf r. 


^ Hancock 


Pearlington 


S.E. 


200 


Shieldboro' 


9! Hinds 


Jackson 


M. 


— 




lOiJackson 


C.H. 


S.E. 


•213 




1 1 Jefferson 


Fayette 


S. W. 


93 


Uniwi t. 


!•> Jones 


EUisvUle 




lU 




13 Lawrence 


Monticello 


S. 


SS 




14jLoundes 


Columbus 




VM 




15; Madison 


Livingston 




31 




16! Marion 


Cohmibia 


s. 


120 


Fords 


17 'Monroe 


Hamilton 


N. E. 


150 


Cohm3bu> 


l8:Perrv 


Augusta 


S.E, 


137 




19iPike 


Holmesville 


S. 


151 




20;Rankin 


[Brandon 




16 




21 Simpson 


jWestville 


M. 


56 




2:2Warren 


jVicksburgh 


W. 


54 


Warrentoii 


'23 AVashinfifton 


; Princeton 




119 




'24;Wayne^ 


1 Winchester 


E. 


165 




•25{Wiikin?v>n 


jWoodvilk 


S. W. 


14S 


Buft^o, Piuckiievvi'« 


:26l Yazoo 


:Bcmon 


1 W 


64 


t 



siCTioN XIX. LOnSIAXA. 



> 


^'a^>f of 1 


Fosi. 


ms. ftn. 




?^ 


Parishes. 


Judicature. 


Hon. 


y.Orle. 




1 


Ascension 


LV)KaldsonYiile 


S. 


75 




o 


Assumption 


Assumption 


s. 


90 




3 Avovelles 


.Marksville 


M. 


240 




4 


Catahoola 


Harrisonburg^ 


N. E. 


251 




o 


Claiborne 


Russelville 




441 




6 


E.Baton Routrt^ 


Baton Rouge 


M. 


117 




-^ 


E. Feliciana 


Jackson 


M. 


158 




8 


Iberville 


Iberville 


M. 


98 




y 


La Favette 


VcrmiJlioiaviUe 


S. W. 


192 




10 


LaFourchelnt. 


Thibiideauxv'e 


S.E. 


108 




11 


Natchitochez 


Natchitochez 


N.W. 


354 




It} 


Orleans 


Nkw Orixaxs 


S, 







13 


O^vlousas 


Bayou Chicot 


S.W. 


220 





360 



fel 


Seats of 


Posi. 


ms. fm. 




14 


Parishes. 


Judicature. 


lion. 


N.Orle. 


Miscellaneous. 


Plaquemines 


Fort Jackson 


E. 


15 




15 Point Coupee 


Point Coupee 


M. 


154 




16 


Rapides 


Alexandria 




272 




17 


St. Helena 


St. Helena 


E, 


98 


Springfield 


18 


St. James 


Beragier 


E. 


60 




19 


St.JohnBaptist 


Bonnet Carre 




36 




20 


St Landry 


Opelousas 


S. 


192 




21 


St. Martins 


St.Martinsville 


S. 


176 




22 


St. Marys 


Franklin 


s. 


141 




23 


St. Tammany 


Covington 


E. 


44 




94 


Terra Bonne 


Williamsb'gh 


s. 






90 


Washita 


Monroe 


N. E. 


323 




96 


Washington 


Franklinton 


E. 


81 




27 


W. Feliciana 


Francisville 


M. 


149 





SECTION XX. TENNESSEE. 



^ 






Posi- 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Nashv. 


Miscellaneous. 


"I 


Anderson 


Clinton 


N.E. 


195 


Cumberland m. 


2 


Bedford 


Sbelbyville 


M. 


52 




3 


Bledsoe 


Pikeville 


E. 


109 


Cumberland m. 


4 


Blount 


Mary'sville 


E. 


197 


Morgan t. 


5 


Campbell 


Jacksonboro' 


N.E. 


215 


Grantsboro' 


6 


Carroll 


Huntingdon 


W. 


109 




7 


Carter 


Elizabethtown 


N. E. 


316 




8 


Clayborne 


Tazewell 


N. E. 


243 


Clinch river 


9 


Cocke 


New Port 


E. 


247 




10 


Davidson 


Nashville 


M. 


— 


Haysboro' 


11 


Dickson 


Charlotte 


M. 


40 




12 


Dyer 


Dyersburgh 


W. 


16S 


Miss, river 


13 


Fayette 


Somerville 


S.W. 


184 




14 


Fentress 


Jamestown . 




131 




15 


Franklin 


Winchester 


S. 


82 


Metcalfboro' 


16 


Gibson 


Trenton 


w. 


139 




17 


Giles 


Pulaski 


s. 


77 


Elkton 


18 


Grainger 


Rutledge 


N.E. 


232 


Mountains 


19 


Greene 


Greenville 


N.E. 


273 




20 


Hardimaii 


Bolivar 


S.W. 


158 




21 


Hamilton 


C. H. 


S. 


148 


Brainard 


22 


Hardin 


Savannah 


S.W. 


112 


Tennessee r. 


23 


Hawkins 


Rogersville 


N. E. 


264 


Moorsburg 


24 


Haywood 


Brownsville 


W. 


175 


Harrisburg 


25 


Henderson 


Lexington 


w. 


130 




26 


Henry 


Paris 


N.W. 


108 




27 


Hichman 


Vernon 


M. 


66 




28 


Humphries 


Reynoldsb'gh 


W. 


78 




29 


Jackson 


Gainsboro' 


N. 


79 


Williamsburg 



361 



30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

46 

4? 

48 

49 

50 

51 

52 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

58 

59 

60 

61 

62 



Counties. 



Jefferson 

Knox 

Lawrence 

Lincoln 

McMinn 

McNairy 

Madison 

Marion 

Maury 

Monroe 

Montgomery 

Morgan 

Overton 

Obion 

Perry 

Rhea 

Roane 

Robertson 

Rutherford 

Sevier 

Shelby 

Smith 

Stewart 

Sullivan 

Sumner 

Tipton 

Warren 

Washington 

Wayne 

Weakly 

White" 

Williamson 

Wilson 



County toicns. 



Fosi- 
tion. 



ms. fm, 
Nashv. 



Dandridge 


E. 


229 


Knoxville 


E. 


199 


Lawrenceburg 


S. 


75 


Fayetteville 


S. 


73 


Athens 


S. R 


153 


Purdy 


s,w. 


128 


Jackson 


w. 


147 


Jasper 


s. 


114 


Columbia 


M. 


42 


Madisonville 


S. E. 


168 


Clarksville 


N. 


46 


C. H. 


N. 


161 


Monroe 


N. 


109 


Troy 


N. W. 


161 


Shannonville 


W. 


114 


Washington 


E. 


129 


Kingston 


E. 


159 


Springfield 


N. 


25 


Murfreesburg 
Sevierville 


M. 
E. 


33 
225 


Memphis 


S. W. 


224 


Carthage 


N. 


52 


Dover 


N.W. 


81 


Blountville 


N. E. 


306 


JGallatin 


N. 


1 25 


Covington 


W. 


1 197 


jMcMinnsville 


M. 


i 74 


jjonesboro' 


N. E. 


298 


Waynesboro' 


S. 


92 


Dresden 


N.W. 


132 


Sparta 


M. 


92 


Franklin 


M. 


18 


Lebanon 


M. 


31 



Miscellaneous. 



Calhoun 



Port Royal 
Montgomery 

Wood Lake 
Barrysville 



Jefferson, Rccdyvnii 
Mississippi r. 

Boat Yard 
Chickasaw B'alis 



SECTION XXI. KENTUCKY. 



Counties. 



1 Adair 

2 Allen 

3 Anderson 

4 Barren 
5|Bath 

6| Boone 
7 1 Bourbon 
8' Bracken 
9|Breckenridge 
10 Bullet 



County toiims. 



Columbus 
Scottsville 
Lawrenceburg 
Glasgow 
Owingsvillc 
Burlington 
Paris 
Augusta 
Hardinsburgh 
Shephcrdsville 
31 



Posi. 


ms. fm. 


tion. 


Frank. 


M. 


91 


S. 


151 


N, 


12 


S. 


126 


E. 


73 


N. 


72 


N. E. 


43 


N.E. 


73 


N. 


118 


N. 


74 



Miscellaneoxc? 



Barren r. 



Belleville, Petersbarj' 
Millcrsburg 
Germantown 
Patesville, Stapcf^pcct 
Mount VcnioK i^ 



362 



^1 




Posi- 


ms. fyn. 




p^ 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 
W. 


Frank. 
141 


Miscellaneous. 


IT 


Butler 


Morgantown 


* 


12 


Caldwell 


Princeton 


W. 


229 


Eddyville 


13 


Callaway 


Wadesboro' 


w. 


262 


Nashville 


14 


Campbell 


Newport 


N. 


99 


Covington 


15 


Casey 


Liberty 


M. 


66 


Caseyville 


16 


Christian 


Liberty 


S. W. 


206 


Hopkinsville 


n 


Clark 


Winchester 


M. 


45 


Indian t. 


18 


Clay 


Manchester 


S, E. 


115 




19 


Cumberland 


Burkesville 


S. 


119 




'20 


Daviess 


Ovvenboro 


N.W. 


150 


Vienna 


21 


Edmonson 


Brownsville 




138 




23 


Estill 


Irvine 


E. 


71 




23 


Fayette 


Lexington 


M. 


25 


Cross Plains 


24 


Flemino; 


Flemingburgh 


N. E. 


79 


Blue Lick 


25 


Floyd 


Frestonburgh 


E. 


142 


Burning Springs 


26 


Franklin 


Frankfort 


N. 


— 


S. Frankfort 


27 


r^allatin 


Port William 


N. 


57 


Ghent, Fredericksb'g 


28 


Gerrard 


Lancaster 


M. 


52 




29 


Grant 


Williamstown 


N. 


44 




30 


Graves 


Mayfield 


W. 


284 




31 


Grayson 


Litchfield 


W. 


110 




32 


Greene 


Greenbui-ffh 


M. 


90 


Sumpterville 


33 


Greenup 


C. H. 


N. E. 


1.32 


Greenupsburg 


34 


Hancock 


Hawsville 




1.30 




35 


Hardin 


Elizabcthtown 


N. 


80 


Philadelphia 


36 


Harlan 


C. H. 


S. E. 


168 




37 


Harrison 


Cynthiana 


N. 


38 


Marysville 


38 


Hart 


Mumfordsvillc 


M. 


105 


Monroe 


39 


Henderson 


Henderson 


N.W. 


180 




40 


Henry 


New Castle 


N. 


37 


Bedford, Westport 


41 


Fiickman 


Clinton 


S. W. 


308 


Columbia 


42 


Hopkins 


Madisonville 


w. 


200 


Bellville 


43 


Jefferson 


Louisville 


N. 


52 


TransylvJinir!, Portl'd 


44 


Jessamine 


Nicholasville 


M. 


37 




45 


Knox 


Barboursvii\' 


S. E. 


122 




46 


Laurel 


Hazel Patch 




102 




47 


Lawrence 


Louisa 


E. 


127 




48 


Lewis 


Clarksburgh 


N. E. 


96 


Vanceburgh 


49 


Lincoln 


Stanford 


M. 


51 


Crab Orchard 


50 


Livinorston 


Salem 


W. 


245 


Kirksville, Smithland 


51 


Logan 


Russelville 


S. 


171 i 


Shaker t. 


5-2 


McCraken 


Wiliaington 


S. W. 


28.9 




53 


Madison 


Richmond 


M. 


50 


Boonsboro' 


54 


Miison 


Washington 


N.E. 


63 


Maysville,Williamsb. 


55 


Mead 


Brandenburgh 




90 




56 


Mercer 


Hariodsburofh 


M. 


30 


Walnut Grov<.', D;inv. 


57 


Monroe 


Tompkinsville 


S. 


144 


Chaphn t. 


58 


Montgomery 


MountSterling 


N.E. 


60 




59 


Morgan 


West Liberty 




107 




60 


Mnh\enhr.rg 


Greenville 


W. 


177 


[yewisburuh 



363 



? 






Post- 


ms. fin. 




Counties. 


County toivns. 


tion. 


Frank. 


Miscellaneous. 


61 


Nelson 


Bardstown 


M. 


55 


Bloomfield, Fairfield 


62 


Nicholas 


Carlisle 


N.E. 


58 


EUisville 


63 


Ohio 


Hartford 


W. 


154 




64 


Oldham 


West Port 




44 




65 


Owen 


Owenton 


N. 


28 




66 


Pendleton 


Falmouth 


N. 


60 




67 


Perry 


C. H. 


E. 


148 




68 


Pike 


Piketon 


E. 


165 




69 


Pulaski 


Somerset 


S. E. 


85 




70 


Rock Castle 


Mount Vernon 


E. 


73 




71 


Russel 


Jamestown 




109 




72 


Scott 


Georgetown 


N. 


17 




73:SheIbv 


Shelby ville 


N. 


21 


Hardaibville 


74 


Simpson 


Franklin 


S. 


165 




75 


Spencer 


Tavlorsviile 


N. 


35 




76 


Todd 


Elkton 


S. W. 


186 




77 


Trigg 


Cadiz 


s. w. 


226 




78 


Union 


Morganfield 


N. W. 


205 


Raleigh, Carthage 


79 


Warren 


BowUnggreen 


s. 


145 




80 


Washington 


Springfield 


M. 


50 


Maxville, Lebanon 


81 


Wayne 


Monticello 


S. E. 


110 




82 


Whitely 


C.H. 


S. E. 


130 


Williamsburgh 


83 


Woodford 


Versailles 


M. 


13 


Mortonsville 







SECTION : 


SXII. 


OHIO. 


>. 






Posi. 


ms. fm. 




f' 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Colum. 


Miscellaneous. 


~1 


Adams 


West Union 


S. 


101 


Adamsv. Manchester 


2 


Allen 




N. W. 


110 




3 


Ashtabula 


Jeflferson 


N.E. 


191 


Harpersfi'ld,Windsor 


4 


Atliens 


Athens 


S.E. 


73 


Hockhocking r. 


5 


Belmont 


St. Clairsville 


E. 


124 


Fairview, Morris t. 


6 


Brown 


Georgetown 


S.W. 


104 


Ripley 


7 


Butler 


Hamilton 


S.W. 


101 


Rossvillc, Middle t. 


8 


Champaign 


Urban n a 


W. 


50 




9 


Clarke 


Springfield 


S.W. 


43 


Boston 


10 
11 


Clermont 
Clinton 


Batavia 
^Vilmington 


S.W. 
S.W. 


109 
67 


Williamsburg, New t. 


12 


Columbiana 


New Lisbon 


E. 


152 


Fawcets t. Fairfield 


13 


Coshocton 


Coshocton 


M. 


84 


Tuscarawas r. 


14 


Crawford 


Bulyrus 


N.W. 


75 


Upper Sandusky 


15 


Cayahoga 


Cleveland 


N. 


138 


Euclid, Grainger 


16 


Darke 


Greenville 


W. 


103 


Stillwater cr. 


17 


Delaware 


Delaware 


M. 


23 


Berkshire, Norton 


18 


Fairfield 


Lancaster 


S. 


28 


Royalton, Centreville 


19 


Fayette 


Washington 


S. W. 


45 


Greenfield 


20 


Franklin 


Columbus 


M. 





Franklinton 


21 


Gallia 


Galliopolis 


s- 


108 


Fair Haven 



364 



^ 






Posi. J 


ns. fm. 




o* 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


'^olum. 


Miscellaneous. 


^ 


Geauga ( 


Dhardon 


N. E. ' 


157 


Painsville, Fairport 


23 


Greene 


Xenia 


S. W. 


57 


Fairfield 


24 


juernsey i 


Z^ambridge 


E. 


83 


Washington, Frankf. 


25 


Hamilton ( 


[:;incinnati 


S. W. 


112 


Springfield, Miami 


26 


Hancock 


Finlay 


N.W. 


114 




27 


Hardm 




N.W. 


66 




28 


Harrison 


Cadiz 


E. 


124 


Moorfield 


29 


Henry 


Damascus 


N.W. 


161 


Maumee r. 


30 


Highland 


Hilsboro' 


S.W. 


74 


N. Market, Florence 


31Hockinjr 


Logan 


S. 


47 




32 


Holmes 


Millersbnrgh 


M. 


80 




33 


Huron 


Norwalk 


N. 


113 


Huron, Fair Haven 


34 


Jackson j 


C.H. 


S. 


74 




35 


JefFerson j 


Steubenville 


E. 


149 


Mt.Pleasant, Jefters'u 


36! Knox i 


Mount Vernon 


M. 


45 


N. Lexington 


37 


Lawrence 


Burlington 


S. 


135 


Bunsburgh 


38 


Licking 


Newark 


M. 


34 


Fairfield, Johns t. 


39 


Logan 


Bellefontaine 


W. 


62 




40 


Lorain 


Elyria 


N. 


130 


Dover 


41 


Madison 


N. London 


S. W. 


27 


Lawrenceville 


42 


Marion 


Marion 


M. 


47 




43| Medina 


C.H. 


N. 


111 


Mecca, Medina 


44 Meigs 


Chester 


S. 


94 


Salisbury 


45; Mercer 


St. Mary's 


w. 


111 




46: Miami 


Troy 


w. 


'iS 


Staunton,Washingt'n 


47 Monroe 


Woodsfield 


S.E. 


140 




48, Montgomery 


Dayton 


S. W. 


66 


Liberty, Centerville 


49 'Morgan 


McConnelisv'c 


S. E. 


70 


Waterford 


50 Muskingum 


Zanesville 


M. 


59 


Putnam, Irville 


51 Paulding 




N.W. 






52 Perry 


Somerset 


S. E. 


46 


N. Lebanon 


53Pickawav 


Circleville 


S. 


26 


Bloomfield 


54; Pike 


Piketon 


s. 


65 




55 Portage 


Ravenna 


N. E. 


127 


Deerfield, Hudson 


56 Preble 


Eaton 


S.W. 


92 




57iPutnam 




N.W. 


148 




53;Richland 


Mansfield 


N. 


71 


Greentown, Truxv'e 


59'Ross 


Chillicothe 


S. 


45 


N. Richmond, Old t. 


60 Sandusky 


L. Sandusky 


N. 


103 




6. 


[ Sciota 


Portsmouth 


S. 


91 




6f 


> Seneca 


Tiffin 


N. 


85 




6: 


J Shelby 


Sidney 


W. 


86 


Hardin 


6^ 


1 Stark 


Canton 


E. 


116 


Oznaburg, Kendal 


6. 


5 Trumbull 


Warren 


N. E. 


157 


Canfield, Boardman 


6 


3 Tuscarawas 


N.Philadelphic 


I E. 


107 


Gnadenhutten, Salem 


6 


7 Union 


Maryville 


M. 


37 


Zane t. Milford 


6 


^IVnn \V art 


Wilshire 


N.W. 


146 




GRlWarren 


Lebanon 


S.W. 


83 


Deerfield, Montgom'y 




^Washington 


Marietta 


S. E. 


1 106 


Newport, Troy 



365 



^ 


Counties. 


County towns. 


Posi- 
tion. 


ms. fm. 
Colum. 


Miscellaneous. 


71 
72 
73 


Wayne 

Williams 

Wood 


Wooster 
Defiance 
Perrysburgh 


N.E. 

N.W. 
N.W. 


86 
175 
135 


Moscow, Paintvillc 
Maumee 



SECTION XXIII. INDIANA. 



.^ 






Posi- 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


\ Indian. 
141 


Miscellaneous. 


"l 


Allen 


Fort Wayne 


N.E. 




2 


Bartholomew 


Columbus 


S. 


41 




3 


Boone 


Thorntown 




62 




4 


Carroll 


Delphi 




88 




5 


Case 


Logansport 




113 




6 


Clark 


Charleston 


S. 


105 


jN. Washington 


7 


Clay 


Bowling Green 




I 69 


8 


Clinton 


Frankford 




i 




9 


Crawford 


Fredonia 


s. 


122 


! Mount Sterling 


10 


Daviese 


Washington 


S. W. 


106 


U 


Dearbori- 


Lawrenceburg 


S. E. 


98 


Harlingb. Parnaesus 


12 


Decatur 


Greensburgh 


S. E. 


55 




13 


Delaware 


Muncytown 




59 




14 


Dubois 


Portersville 


s. w. 


124 




15 


Fayette 


Connersville 


E. 


68 




16 


Floyd 


New Albany 


S. 


121 


Clarksburg 


17 


Fountair; 


Covington 




81 




18 


Franklin 


Brook ville 


S. E. 


70 


Somerset, Fairfield 


19 


Gibson 


Princeton 


s. w. 


141 




20 


Greene 


Bloomfield 


s. w. 


76 


Burlington 
Connortown 


21 


Hamilton 


Noblesville 


M. 


22 


22 


Hancock 


Hancock 




21 




23 


Harrison 


Cory don 


s. 


124 


Northampton 


24 


HendrickiJ 


Danville 


M. 


20 




25 


Henry 


New Castle 


E. 


49 i 




26 


Jackson 


Brownstown 


S. 


69 




27 


Jefferson 


Madison 


S. E. 


86 


New London 


28 


Jenninge 


Vernon 


S. E. 


64 




29 


Johnson 


Franklin 


M, 


20 1 




30 


Knox 


Vincennes 


s. w. 


126 


Russelville, Shaker t. 


31 


Lawrence 


Bedford 


s. 


73 


Palestine 


32 


Madison 


Andersontown 


M. 


41 




33 


Marion 


Indianapolis 


M. 






34 


Martin 


Mt. Pleasant 


s. w. 


121 


Greenwich 


35 


Montgomery 


Crawfordsville 


w. 


44 




36 


Monroe 


Bloomington 


M. 


51 




37 


Morgan 


Martinsville 


M. 


30 




38 


Orange 


Paoli 


S. 


94 


Orleans, Salt Spring 


39 


Owen 


Spencer 


w. 


52 




40 


Parke 


Rockville 


w. 


68 





31 



366 



? 






Fosi. 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Indian. 


Miscellaneous. 


41 


Perry 


Rome 


S. 


143 


Troy, Washington 


42 


Pike 


Peterburgh 


s. w. 


119 


Columbia 


43 


Posey 


Mount Vernon 


s. w. 


187 


Springiield,Harmony 


44 


Putnam 


Green Castle 


w. 


42 




45 


Randolph 


Winchester 


E. 


97 




46 


Ripley 


Versailles 


S. E. 


79 


Ripley 


47 


Rush 


Rushville 


E. 


40 


Shelbyvilie 


48 


Scott 


Lexington 


S. E. 


89 




49 


Shelby 


Shelbyvilie 


M. 


30 




50 


Spencer 


Rockport 


S.W. 


167 




51 


Sullivan 


Miriam 


W. 


115 


Carlisle 


52 


Switzerland 


Vevay 


S. E. 


105 




53 


Tippecanoe 


La Fayette 




70 




54 


Union 


Liberty 


E. 


77 


Dunlapsv. Brownsv. 


55 


Vanderburgh 


Evansville 


S. W. 


170 




56 


Vermillion 


Newport 


W. 


86 




57 


Vico 


Terra Haute 


W. 


83 




58 


Wabash 






196 




59 


Warren 


Williamsport 








60 


Warwick 


Booneville 


S. W. 


187 


Springfield 


61 


Washington 


Salem 


s. 


91 


Fredericksburgh 


62 


Wayne 


Centreville 


E. 


63 


Richmond, Salisbury 



SECTION XXIV. ILLINOIS. 



? 






Fosi. 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Vanda. 


Miscellaneous. 


~r 


Adams 


Quincy 


W. 


193 




2 


Alexander 


America 


s. 


181 




3 


Bond 


Greenville 


S.W. 


20 




4 


Calhoun 


Gilead 


w. 


126 


Colesgrove, Monioe 


5 


Clarke 


C. H. 


E. 


134 


Aurora, Sterling 


6 


Clay 


Maysville 




46 




7 


Clinton 


Carlyle 


S.W. 


30 


Washingt. Donaldson 


8 


Cole 


C. H. 








9 


Cook 


Chicago 


N.E. 






10 


Crawford 


Palestine 


E. 


118 


York 


11 


Edgar 


Paris 


E. 


106 




12 


Edwards 


Albion 


S.E. 


92 


Palmyra, Oxford 


13 


Fayette 


Vandalia 


M. 


— 


Lexington, Perryviile 


14 


Franklin 


Frankfort 


S. 


102 


Columbia 


15 


Fulton 


Fulton 


w. 


133 




16 


Galatin 


Equality 


s. 


137 


Shawneetown 


17 


Greene 


Carrollton 


w. 


106 


Mount Pleasant 


18 


Hamilton 


McLeansboro' 


S. E. 


93 


Mantua 


19 
20 


Hancock 
Henry 




W. 
W. 


144 




21 


Jackson 


Brownsville 


S.W. 


127 


Ovid 



367 



? 






Posi- 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County toions. 


tion. 


Vanda. 


Miscellaneous, 


22 


Jefferson 


Mount Vernon 


~S. 


65 




23 


Jo-Daviess 


Galena 


N.W. 


326 




24 


Johnson 


Vienna 


S. 


167 




25 


Knox 


C. H. 


w. 


188 




26 


La Salle 


Ottowa 








27 


Lawrence 


Lawrenceville 


S. E. 


84 


Smallsburgli 


28 


McLean 


Bloomington 








29 


Macon 


Decatur 




70 




30 


Macoupin 


Carlinville 




95 




31 


Madison 


Edwardsville 


s. w. 


55 


Gibralter, Troy 


32 


Marion 


Salem 


s.w. 


26 




33 


McDonough 


McComb 








34 


Mercer 




w. 






35 


Monroe 


Waterloo 


s.w. 


99 


Hanisonville 


36 


Montgomery 


Hillsboro' 


M. 


28 


Hamilton 


37 


Morgan 


Jacksonville 


w. 


115 




38 


Peoria 


Peoria 


W. 


43 




39 


Perry 


Pinckneyville 




129 




40 


Pike 


Atlas 


W. 


148 




41 


Pope 


Golconda 


s. 


160 


RockHaven,Belgrade 


42 


Putnam 


Hennepin 








43 


Randolph 


Kaskaskia 


s.w. 


95 


Portland 


44 


St. Clair 


Belleville 


s. w. 


71 


Athens, Lebanon 


45 


Sangamo 


Springfield 


M. 


79 




46 


Schuyler 


HushviUe 


W. 


172 




47 


Shelby 


Shelbyville 




40 




48 


Tazewell 


Mackinaw 




149 




49 


Union 


Jonesboro' 


s. 


154 


Hamburgh, Elvira 


50 


V^ermillion 


Danville 




150 




51 


Wabash 


Mount Carmel 




109 




52 


Warren 


Warren 


w. 


203 




53 


Washington 


Nashville 


s. 


52 


Covington 


54 


Wayne 


Fairfield 


S. E. 


69 




55 


White 


Carmi 


S. E. 


94 


Mantua 



SECTION xxy. MISSOURI. 



Counties. 



Boone 

Callaway 

C'pe Girardeau 

Chariton 

Clay 

Cole 

Cooper 

Crawford 

Franklin 

Gasconade 



County towns. 



Columbia 

Fulton 

Jackson 

Chariton 

Liberty 

JeffersonCity 

Booneville 

Little Piney 

Union 

Gasconade 



Posi- 


ms. fm. 


tion. 


Jeff'n 


M. 


56 


M. 


32 


S. E. 


208 


N. 


79 


N.W. 


190 


M. 





M. 


51 




97 


E. 


79 


M. 


47 



Miscellaneous. 

Elizabeth, Mexico 
Cape Girardeau 



Howard's Bluff 
Newport 



368 



>l 




Posi. 


ms. fm. 




f 


Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Jern 


Miscellaneous 


lljHoward 


Fayette 


M. 


65 


Franklin 


12|Jackson 


Independence 




177 




13 


Jefferson 


Herculaneura 


E. 


164 


Merrimac 


14 


La Fayette 


Lexington 


E. 


138 




15 


Lincoln 


Troy 


E. 


97 


Alexandria 


16 


Madison 


Frederickton 


S. E. 


170 


St. Michaels 


17 


Marion 


Palmyra 




190 




18 


Montgomery 


Lewistown 


E. 


67 


Pinckney 


19 


New Madrid 


New Madrid 


S. E. 


258 


Mt. Pleasant 


20 


Perry 


Perryville 


S. E. 


157 


Maddensburg 


21 


Pike 


Bowling Green 


E. 


132 


Louisiana, Clarksville 


22 


Rails 


New London 


N. E. 


167 


Hannibal, Palmyra 


23 


Randolph 


Randolph 




96 




24 


Ray 


Richmond 


N.W. 


149 


Missouriton, Bluflfton 


25 


St. Charles 


St. Charles 


E. 


123 


Missouri 


26 


St. Francis 


Farmington 


S. E. 


152 




27 


St. Genevieve 


St. Genevieve 


S. E. 


168 




28 


St. Louis 


St. Louis 


E. 


134 


Corondolet, Florissant 


29 


Saline 


Walnut Farm 


W. 


85 


Jefferson 


30 


Scott 


Benton 


S. E. 


236 




31 


Washington 


Potosi 


S. E. 


127 


Caledonia, Bellvue 


32 


Wayne 


Greenville 


S. 


210 





SECTION XXVI. MICHIGAN TERRITORY. 



^ 




Posi. 


7ns. fm. 




? i Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Detroit 


Miscellaneous. 


1 Berrien 






179 




2 Branch 






133 




3 Brown 


Menomonee 








4 Cass 


Edwardsb'rgh 




169 




5 Chippewa 










6 Crawford 


Prair. du Chien 








7 Jackson 


Jacksonopolis 




77 




8 Iowa 


Helena 








9 Hillsdale 






108 




10 Kalamazoo 










11 Lanawe 


Tecumseh 


S. E. 


63 




12 Lapeer 










13 McComb 


Mt. Clement 


E. 


26 




14 Michilimaci- 


Mackinac 


N. 


321 




15 Monroe [nac 


Monroe 


S.E. 


36 


Lawrenceville 


16 Oakland 


Pontiac 


E. 


26 




17 Saginau 


Saginau 


M. 






18Salinac 










19 Shiawassee 


Biron 


S. E. 






20 St. Clair 


St. Clair 


E. 


59 




21 St. Josephs 




S.W. 






22 Washtenaw 


Ann Harbor 


S.E. 


42 




23 Wayne 


Detroit 


S.E. 


— 


Monguagoii 



369 

In the North-western Territory, which is attached to the territorial 
government of Michigan, are located two counties. 

1. Bradford — in the south, bounding on Ilhnois. 

2. Browne — in the east, at the south of Green Bay, and bounding 

on lake Michigan. 



SECTION XXVII. ARKANSAS TERRITORY. 



.^' 






Posi. 


■ms.fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Arkop. 


Miscellaneous. 


1 


Arkansas 


Arkansas 


E. 


114 


Beards t. 


2 


Chicot 


Villemont 


S. E. 


184 




3 


Clarke 


C. H. 


S. E. 


87 


Hot sp'gs. Pine Bluff 


4 


Conway 


Harrisonburg 




40 




5 


Crawford 


C.H. 


M. 


136 


Dwight, Spadra 


6 


Chittenden 


Greenock 




168 




7 


Hempstead 


C.H. 


S. 


130 




8 


Independence 


Batesville 


N. E. 


102 


Cadron 


9 


Izard 


C.H. 




172 




10 


La Fayette 


C.H. 




182 




11 


Lawrence 


Jackson 


N.W. 


152 




12 


Miller 


CH. 


S. W. 


228 


Pecan point 


13 


Monroe 






84 




14 


Phillips 


Helena 


E. 


124 


Hopefield 


15 


Pope 


Scotia 




81 




16 


Pulaski 


Arkopolis 


E. 





Piatts t. 


17 


St. Francis 


Franklin 








18 


Sevier 


Sevier 




168 




19 


Union 


Corea Fabre 








20 


Warm Spring 


Warm Spring 




60 




21 Washington 






200 




SE( 


:tion XXVIII. FLOR] 


[DA. 








Posi. 


ms. fm. 




Counties. 


County towns. 


tion. 


Tallah. 


Miscellaneous. 




Alachua 


Dell's 




178 




2 


Duval 


Jacksonville 


N.E. 


252 


Fernandine 


3 


Escambia 


Pensacola 


W. 


242 


Cambell t. Florida 


4 


Gadsden 


Quincey 




23 




5 


Hamilton 










6 


Jackson 


Marianne 


N. 


77 




~ 


Jefferson 


Monticello 




29 




8 


Leon 


Tallahasse 


N. 


— 




9 


Madison 


Hickstown 








10 


Monroe 


Key West 








11 


Moscheto 


Tomoka 








12 


Nassau 


Fernandina 




313 




13 


St. Johns 


St. Augustine 


N.E. 


292 




14 


Walton 


Alaqua 




161 




15 


Washington 


Holmes Valley 




121 





370 



In the following Table, the calculations of square 
miles and acres, will not always be found exactly to 
correspond with the given measures of length and 
breadth. The dimensions do not appear to be uni- 
formly laid down upon the same principles. The two 
diameters are mostly stated as nearly corresponding 
with their full length, and the calculations of square 
miles and acres founded upon the estimate averages of 
length and breadth. In some cases, however, the 
averages appear to be aimed at in the given dimen- 
sions. In cases where considerable portions are co- 
vered with lakes, some are calculated for the whole 
surface, and others exclusive of the waters To ar- 
rive at greater accuracy, in so large a country, would 
seem to be attended with more labor and difficulty, 
than the advantages to be gained from a greater ex- 
actness would compensate. The calculations are gene- 
rally taken from the best authorities extant. 

The seventh column, denoting the dates of founda- 
tion, refers, with respect to the original states, to their 
first settlement, and with respect to those organized 
since the revolution, to the dates of the Acts of Con- 
gress receiving them into the Union in their state 
caoacities. The District of Columbia dates from the 
first meeting of Congress in Washington. 

Tiie column of bearings of the Capitals from Wash- 
ington, aims at no more than a near approximation to 
the true courses. The direct distances of Capitals 
from Washington, are estimated from the face of a 
map of the Union, and are supposed to be sufficiently 
correct, for the purpose of imparting general ideas — 
which is the only purpose intended. 

The distances of the Mail routes, are taken from 
the Tables of the General Post Office, as graduated 
in 183U 



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O 

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cfl ;:. 



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gssissssiiilliliiliiiisii 



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372 



CHAPTER V. 
DEFINITIONS OF LEGAL TERMS. 

THE present chapter is introduced merely to de- 
fine the most common obvious meaning of a few 
terms, as they are used in the United States, in a le- 
gal sense; and is chiefly intended to embrace those 
which most frequently recur in newspaper publica- 
tions, and other familiar prints, or appear in public 
documents or debates. 

The object in view, is, that the youth, when they 
meet with them in such publications, may neither be 
subjected to the uncertainty of some random vague 
conjecture of their meaning, nor be driven to the ne- 
cessity of a resort to some law dictionary — which ve- 
ry few families are supposed to possess — nor to that 
of passing them over, as belonging to an unknown 
tongue. The list has been carefully corrected, by a 
practitioner of law, of acknowledged ability. 

The youth will be aware, that manj^ of the words 
have other meanings, as they occur in common use, 
in our language, unconnected with the operations of 
law. These we leave to the explanations of a com- 
mon dictionary. 



ACCOMPLICE — Any one of several, who are concerned together in 
committing a criminal act. 

ADMINISTRATOR— One to whom is committed the settlement, ac 
cording to law, of the estate of a person who dies without leaving a 
will or testament. 

ADVOCATE — A Lawyer, who assists his client, by advice, and by 
advocating his cause in court if necessary. 

AFFIDAVIT — An oath or affirmation, taken in writing, before a com- 
petent officer legally authorized. 



373 

AFFIRMATION — A solemn promise and declaration, instead of an 
oath, made by those conscientiously scrupulous against taking an 
oath in judicial and other proceedings. 

AFFRAY — A public fighting — which is a public offence against the 
peace and morals of a community. 

AGENT — A person appointed by another to transact business for him. 

AGREEMENT — When written, is a memorandum, expressing a bar- 
gain between two or more persons. 

ALIEN — A person not born within the state or nation wherein he re- 
sides, nor acknowledged as a citizen by any public act or ceremony, 
prescribed by law for the purpose. 

ALLUVION — -Lands formed from the accumulation of sand upon a 
sea shore, or from the collection of sediment brought down by a river, 
forming islands, or an extension of ground, upon its borders. 

AMNESTY — An act of general pardon, or oblivion of offences, against 
a government. 

ANNUITY — A yearly rate, paid for years or for life, (as the agree- 
ment may be made between the contracting parties,) in consideration 
of a principal sum, paid in hand. 

APPEAL — The removing of a cause from the decision of a justice, to 
the judgment of a court, or from an inferior court to a superior. 

APPURTENANCES — Things of less consideration appertaining to 
things of greater — as barns, highways, or waters, to a farm. 

ARBITRATION — A submission of things in dispute between two or 
more persons, to the judgment and decision of others who are not 
interested. 

-ARCHIVES — The rolls, or places, wliere public records aie kept. 

ARREARAGE — Money remaining unpaid after due, or the balance 
of an account afler settlement 

ARREST— A legal restraint, assumed and iield by an officer, upon a 
person charged with debt or with crime. 

ARSON — House burning 

ASSAULT AND BATTERY— An attempt by violence, to do bodily 
injury to another. 

ASSIGNS — Persons to wliom the title to a property is transferred by 
others. 

ASSIGNEES — Persons to whom the property of a bankrupt is made 
over, for legal distribution among his creditors. 

ATTORNEY — A person legally authorized by another, by a written 
instrument, to pay or receive money, or to transact any other busi- 
ness on behalf of the person employing him. 

Al'TORNEY AT LAW— A lawyer, qualified, and employed lo 
manage suits before a court of judicature. 

Al'TORNEY GENERAL— A law officer, appointed on behalf of the 
State, to conduct prosecutions against criminals, or public offenders. 

AUDITOR — A public officer, appointed to examine and correct the 
accounts of other public officers, or agents. 

BAIL — The act by which a person arrested is set at liberty, on surety 
given by another for his appearance, at a certain time and place, to 
stand his trial — the surety binding himself in a certain sum, to en- 
sure the said appearance. 

BANKRUPT — A person who by accidents, mismanagement, the fail- 
ure of others, or any other Cvius<j, becomes unable to dischargee bis 
32 



374 

debts, and assigns his property according to law, for the benefit of 
his creditors. 

BARRISTER— A counseller learned in the law, and admitted to plead 
for others at the bar of a court. 

BILL OF SALE — A written instrument, by whicli personal property 
is Jegally conveyed from one to another. 

BROKER — A person who follows the business of contriving, making, 
or concluding bargains between others — as between the borrowers 
and lenders of money — between importing, and purchasing- mer- 
chants, &,c. &.C. 

BY-LAW— A private law, enacted by the authority of a corporation, 
for the preservation of its ov/n order, or the regulation of the conduct 
of its officers. 

BURGLARY — Breaking and entering the house of another, in the 
night, with evil intention. 

<^'APIAS — A form of writ, used in law processes, capable of considera- 
ble variation to suit particular cases. 

CERTIORARI— (Often vulgarly pronounced Sassarara,) a writ issued 
by a superior court, to bring a cause before it for decision, which is 
depending in an inferior court, or before a magistrate or justice of 
the peace, 

CHANCERY — A species of court maintained in some of the states, 
v/herein the sole judge is termed a Chancellor — it is denom.inated a 
court of equity, as distinguishing it from courts of common law. 
Because the chancellor is at liberty to deviate in his decisions from 
the strict letter of law, when he is convinced the cause of strict equity 
requires such deviation. 

CHATTELS— All sorts of goods and property except freehold or real 
estate. 

CIVIL Lx4W — 'Is that particular code of laws, in any particular state 
or nation, which it has established peculiarly fi->r itself 

CODICIIj — A snpplenient to a will. 

COMMITMENT— Sending a person to prison, for crime or other suffi- 
cient cause. 

COMMON LAW — Compreliends the rules for administering justice, 
wliich have been established by custom, and handed down by tradi- 
tion, from a period of time before any statute laws by acts of parlia- 
ment novv extant were passed. It is understood as embracing an 
extensive code of laws, v/hich generally appear to have had their 
foundation in the principles of sound reason and common self-evident 
justice. Decision? in our American courts, are generally made by 
its rales, where tiicy have nc-t been superseded by special acts of 
legislatures. 

COMMON PLEAS— In courts of judicature, include all civil actions 
at law between citizens. The courts where they are tried are de- 
nominated courts of common pleas. 

CONSIDERATION — Is the price in money, or other valuable things, 
which is paid for land or other property conveyed — without which 
no conveyance is valid. 

CONSIGNMENT — The act by which goods are committed, or sent 
to another to be disposed of, and accounted for, to the ov/ner, or per'' 
^■on sendinfr them. 



375 

CONTEMPT — Disobedience to the rules or orders of a court, or dis- 
respect for its authority publicly manifested. 
CONVEYANCE — A deed which passes land from one to another. 
COPY-RIGHT— The exclusive right to a literary performance, se- 
cured by law to its author, which includes the exclusive right of 
printing and publishing it for a limited time. 
CORONER— The office of a coroner, was formerly, in England, very 
comprehensive. At present, in the United States, the principal duty 
of a coroner, which comes under general public notice, relates to the 
examining, by the assistance of a jury of twelve men, whom he sum- 
mons, and over whom he presides — into the circumstances of the 
death of persons dying suddenly, or by unknown causes, and report- 
ing the cases, as they may appear, upon the best evidence which 
can be procured. The design of the law appears to be, to prevent 
the interment of persons who have thus died, without due examina- 
tion, lest circumstances of private murder, by violence, the administra- 
tion of poisons, or other means, should pass without detection. Thi.- 
officer is sometimes vulgarly called crowner — his title being derived 
from his being in England, an officer of the crown, appointed to in- 
quire on the king's behalf. With us the authority of the state in 
equivalent to that of the king. 
COVENANT — Is a clause in a deed of conveyance, or other instru- 
ment; by which the seller, engages with the buyer, that such, or 
such, circumstances, relative to the premises, are in reality as he has 
represented them — or that he will perform something relative there- 
to, which is yet to be performed, as a part of the bargain. 
COUNSELLOR — A lawyer engaged by a client, to plead his cause iu 
a court, or to administer advice privately, relative to a case in con- 
troversy, or question of law. 
COURT MARTIAL — A court of officers in an army, appointed as 
any particular occasion may require, to judge of and award, punish- 
ment, or acquittal, for the offi3nces charged upon officers or soldiers, 
in time of w^ar. 
CUSTOMS— ^A term synonimous with duties — being the assessment 
paid, according to acts of the legislature, on goods imported, to pay 
the expenses of government. It is a mode of taxation. 
CUSTOM HOUSE — A house in a port town, where customs are re- 
ceived. 
DEBENTURE— The same as drawback. When goods which have 
been imported, are afterwards exported, the owner, by a provision of 
law, draws back, either in whale or in part, the duties which he paid 
on their importation. 
DECREEr-r-The sentence pronounced or awarded by a chancellor, on 

the decision of a suit before Jaim. 
DEED — A written contract sealed and delivered. As respects land, 
its meaning is the same as conveyance. Some deeds are called in- 
dentures, because they are indented, or cut unevenly, at the top or 
edge. In this case two copies were considered necessary; which 
must correspond, by being cut at the same operation, thus making 
one for each party exactly alike. A deed poll, is a deed polled, or 
shaven strait, which supposes no second copy necessary. They are 
severally used with reference to circumstances, where there is some 
variation of antecedent title to the land to be conveyed. 



37(5 

DEFAULT — When either plaintiff or defendant in a suit at law, ne- 
glects to appear at court, for its trial, judgment often passes against 
the negligent party, which is called judgment by default. 

DEFENDANT — In law is the party sued. The party suing is called 
the plaintiff. 

DEPOSITION — The testimony of a witness put down in writing. 

DEPUTY — One who performs an office, or duty, deputed by authority 
of another. 

DEVISE — A bestowing, or disposition, of land or other property, by 
last will and testament. 

DISFRANCHISE — To dispossess a person of his rights and privileges 
as a freeman. 

DISTRESS or DISTRAINT— Goods or chattels taken by legal au- 
thority, for the payment of a debt — most commonly for rent due, or 
other legal demand withheld. 

DOWER — The portion of a widow, of the lands or effects, of her de- 
ceased husband. 

DOWRY — The portion which a woman brings to her husband, upon 
marriage. 

EXCHANGE — Among merchants, is the bartering or exchanging, 
the money of one place for that of another. For instance — A, of 
Philadelphia owes B, of Liverpool. B, again, owes C, of Philadelphia. 
A, then, pays to C, the amount of the debt he owes to B, and receives 
C's order, called a bill of exchange, of equal amount on B. This bill 
he transmits to B, in payment of his debt; and thus the three par- 
ties are accommodated, without the risque of transmitting money 
across the ocean, in either direction. 

EXECUTION — A writ grounded on the judgment of a court or ma- 
gistrate; empowering a sheriff, or constable, to seize the person, goods, 
or lands, of a debtor, against whom such judgment has issued, there- 
by to enforce payment" to the creditor, in whose favour the court has 
decided. 

EXECUTOR — A person appointed in the will of one deceased, to car- 
ry it into effect, or to execute it. Every person acting under such 
authority, is in fact an administrator, in that he administers to the 
estate of the deceased, though under the authority of a will. But 
every administrator is not an executor ; because that term applies ex- 
clusively to the settlement of an estate under the direction of a will, 
and not merely by the prescription of the laws. 

EX OFFICIO— That power which a public officer has, to do certain 
things, in right of his office, without the necessity of a special war. 
rant, or authority, granted for the occasion by his superiors. 

EX PARTE— Legal action had in certain cases, or evidence taken, 
in the absence of one of the parties concerned. The latter is gener- 
ally unlawful, though capable of some rare exceptions. 

FEE' SIMPLE— An estate in lands, absolute, and unlimited by any 
condition. 

FELO DE SE— A self-murderer. 

FELONY— Comprehends in general, every species of crime commit- 
ted with an evil intention, which under the common law was sub- 
jected to capital punishment. But under our laws, felony, except in 
cases of wilful murder, piracy, or some cases of mail robbery, is ge- 



377 

nerally punished by fines, imprisonment at hard labor, or some other 
corporal infliction. 

FEME COVERT — A married woman, so called in law, as being un- 
der cover or protection of her husband. 

FEME SOLE — An mimarried woman, or a woman alone. 

FIERI FACIAS — A writ, authorising a sheriff to levy on, and sell, 
the goods of a person against whom judgment has been obtained in 
a court, for the payment of his creditor who has obtained the judg- 
ment. 

GAOL DELIVERY— The judicial process by whidi gaols are 
evacuated, by the trial, and either condemnation or acquittal, of all 
persons confined in them, on criminal charges. 

GRAND JURY — A jury summoned by the sheriff, or in some of the 
States drawn by lot, from the ballot box in which the names of all 
persons in the county supposed to be most fit for tlie office are de- 
posited. The jury is generally composed of twenty-three members, 
twelve of whom being a majority, are capable of doing business — a 
majority of twelve being always necessary to the finding of a bill of 
indictment. It is the duty of the grand jury to inquire, and present 
to the court, all cases of public grievance known to themselves, 
without further evidence. And to hear and act upon, bills of in- 
dictment, prepared and presented to them by the Attorney General, 
against individuals charged with criminal conduct; and either to 
present those bills to the court as true, or, in case of insufficient evi- 
dence, to discharge the supposed offender from further prosecution. 

HABEAS CORPUS— The name of a writ, by which a person com- 
mitted to prison for less than a capital crime, found before a justice, 
or magistrate of a corporation, ftiay, upon a plea of illegality, cause 
himself to be brought before a judge; who is empowered to decide, 
upon the evidence presented, whether he shall be returned to prison 
to await his trial, be admitted to bail, or be discharged without fur- 
ther process. This is tlie most common use of the writ, though it 
may embrace other cases which we need not here explain. The 
name is derived from two Latin words, haheo, to have, and corpus^ 
the body ; implying a power secured to the citizen, to have his body 
removed before competent authority, in order to gain a fair hearing. 
It is considered a most important bulwark for the protection of the 
citizen, ag-ainst illegal oppression, and in favour of just liberty. 

HOMICIDE— Manslaying. 

HUNDRED — In some of the United States implies a section of a 
county. It is equivalent to township in other states. 

IMPEACHMENT — An accusation and prosecution of an officer un. 
der the government, for treason, or for misdemeanor in office. 

IMPOST — Identical with custom, or duty. 

INCENDIARY — A person guilty of setting fire to buildings or other 
property. 

INDICTMENT — A written bill, or accusation, of a crime or misde- 
meaner, drawn up by the attorney general, and presented to the 
grand jury. 

INQUEST — An inquisition, or inquiry by a jury. It is applicable to 
many cases of law proceedings, but is especially used to express the 
inquiry of a coroner's jury, in cases of death, by sudden, accidental, 
or unknown cause. 



378 

JOINT TENANTS— Are those who hold lands in partnership in un- 
divided right, under such circumstances that if one of the partners 
should die, the whole property will remain vested in the survivor, 
and go to his heirs on his decease, while the children of the first 
dying will be wholly excluded. 

IPSO FACTO — A term signifying that the instant any thing is done, 
or omitted, contrary to the terms on which the holding of a proper- 
ty, privilege, or office, depended as a condition, on that instant the 
right to that property, privilege, or office, ceases without formal 
process. 

JUDGE — Judges are the chief officers in the law, to trj', and deter- 
mine, by rules of law, causes coming before them, either civil or 
criminal. 

JURIES — Are a number of persons, — most generally twelve, — to trj- 
some matter of fact. They are the judges of evidence presented to 
them, and are bound to decide according to the preponderance of 
evidence produced. — The judge having explained the law when 
necessar)'. 

LARCENY — The felonious and fraudulent taking away the personal 
goods of another. It is generally applied to thefts. If the amomit 
taken be of small value, it is called petit larceny. If the amount be 
considerable, it is called grand larceny. 

LAW OF NATIONS — A system of rules, supposed to be deducible 
by natural reason, from the immediate, self-evident principles of 
natural justice ; by which the reciprocal conduct of nations toward 
each other, is professed to be regulated. It may, however, be modi- 
fied by mutual compact, between separate free and independent 
states. 

LEGACY-— A bequest, or gift, of a. person, by will, to another. 

LETTER OF ATTORNEY— A written instrument, by which a 
person is legally authorized to act on behalf of another. 

LEVARI FACIAS-^A writ, authorising a sheriff, to levy a sum of 
money on lands and tenements. 

LEVY— To gather, or collect. 

LIEN — A law term, expressing the circumstance of lands or goods, 
being bound by law or contract, for the payment of certain defined 
debts, in preference to others afterward ccntracted. 

MARSHAL-^ An officer who executes the processes of the courts of the 
United States ; as sheriffs do those of the state or county courts. 

MISDEMEANOR— An act, committed, or omitted, in violation of u 
public law. 

MITTIMUS — The name of a precept, directed to a gaoler, by a justice 
of the peace, for receiving and safe keeping an offender. 

MORTGAGE — A pawn of the title of land, in security for money 
borrowed, or debt otherwise contracted ; to become void on the pay- 
ment of the debt. 

NATURALIZATION— The act and process directed by law, by which 
a person coming from another country to reside, acquires the privi^ 
leges of citizenship. 

NOLLE PROSEQUI— A process, or entry, denoting that the plaintiiF; 
or prosecutor, will proceed no further in his action or prosecution. 

NONSUIT^Occurs where a person has commenced an action at law, 
3nd fails to support it by legal evidence : or where he has commenced 



37^ 

liis action upon an incorrect principle, and is obliged to give it ap) 
in order to commence anew, under a different form. 
KOTARY — A person appointed to attest deeds and writings, and to 
protest notes of hand, remaining unpaid after due, and to translate 
languages for legal pui'poses. 
OBLIGATION — A bond containing a penalty, with a condition an- 
nexed, for payment of money, or the performance of a covenant. 

OVERT ACT — Some action which can be proved, as having been 
openly performed, demonstrating a treasonable intention, or unlaw- 
ful design — bare wordsj not being in law, sufficient to ground a con- 
viction upon, without some siich action. 

OUSTED— Put out, or removed. 

OYER AND TERMINER— A court held to hear and determine, all 
charges of treason, felony, or misdemeanor. 

OYES — A term derived, or changed by habit, from the PVench oyez, 
which signifies "hear ye." It is made use of by the crier of a court, 
to enjoin silence, v/hen proclamation is to be made of any order or 
conclusion of the court. 

PANEL — An oblong piece of parchment or paper^ containing the 
names of a jury. 

PARCENERS — Holders of land in partnership — therefore partners. 

PARLIAMENT — The supreme legislature of tlie British government. 

PARRICIDE— One who kills his parent. 

PASSPORT — A hcense signed by one in authority, authorising the 
safe passage of a person from one part to another. 

PEERS — In common law, are those equal in rank and station with a 
man who is to be tried for an offence, from amongst whom his jury 
shall be taken. 

PEERS — In another sense, are the nobility under monarchial govern- 
ments. In England they compose what is called the upper house, 
or house of lords, in parliament. 

PENALTY — A forfeiture inflicted for not complying with certain 
laws, or a conditional pledge in a contract, binding to the perform- 
ance of a covenant. 

PERJURY — False swearing, when an oath is administered by legal 
authority. 

PIRATE— A robber at sea. 

PLEA — The form, or substance, of the allegation of either party, in a 
suit at court. 

POSSE COMITATUS— The power of a county— the people at large, 
who may be called upon by a sherifr, to aid him in the execution of 
the laws, in certain desperate cases. 

Pound — a public enclosure, pvepafed to secure animals taken in 
trespass, till damages shall be paid by their owner. 

PORTS OF ENTRY— Those seaport towns or places where vessels 
are allowed by law to enter and discliarge their cargoes, under the 
view and superintendance of an officer of the customs. 

PRECEPT— A command in writing, by an executive officer, for bring- 
ing a person or record before him; 

PRESENTIMENT— Expresses the act of a grand jury, when they 
find an offence, and present it to the court, of their own knowledge^ 
v/ithout an indictment laid before them by the attorney general. 

PROCESS-^Thc covirsc, cr manner of proceeding, in any cause at law. 



380 

PROTEST — The open affirmation of a person that he disapproves, or 

is not consenting, to any act. It is also the act of publicly declaring 

a bill or note unpaid, or not accepted. 
PROTHONOTARY— The chief clerk of a court. 
PROXY A person appointed by another to represent him in his ab^ 

sence, on certain particular occasions. 
RECOGNISANCE— Is an obligation a man enters into, before a court, 

or magistrate, to appear at court, or to keep the peace. 
REGISTER— Recorder of deeds and other public documents withm 

the verge of a county. ; , , • •^, , 

REJOINDER— Is the answer of the defendant to the plauitiit s reply 

to his former plea. 
SIERE FACIAS— A writ, embracing a complex state ot law proceed- 
ings, beyond the purpose of the present chapter to explain. 
SHERIFF— The chief officer of a county, to execute the writs of the 

courts, preserve the peace, SiC ^ . j j- • 

SOLICITOR— A person employed to take care of suits, depending in 

courts of law or equity. , . r ♦, 

STAPLE— The principal, and most prontable, products ot a country. 
STATUTE— A written law, enacted with the usual formalities. 
SUBPCENA— A writ, or summons, commanding the attendance o. 

persons at a court, as witnesses. 
SUPERCEDEAS— A writ, to stay proceedings in law, upon good cause 

TENANTS IN COMMON— Are those who hold lands in undivided 
partnership, but whose rights are inherent in each, severally, and 
descend, each part to their several heirs, without being affected bj 
the death of one, as in the case of joint tenants. 

TREASON— An offence of " high grade, committed against a statt 
or government. ^ , 

TRESPASS— Any transgression of law under treason or telony. 

VENDITIONE EXPONAS— A writ, to expose to sale property pre- 
viously levied on. ■ .. 

VERDICT— The answer of a jury, made upon any cause, civil or 
criminal, committed to them for decision. 



THE END. 



